A Budding Love
by Xanegoh
Summary: The story follows Satou Takanashi as he begins a relationship with the beautiful Ageha. But can Satou handle a girl like Ageha? And can Ageha handle a relationship and maintain her identity as a ninja secret from him? Only time will tell in this budding love.
1. Prologue

Prologue

"No way, Satou. You're full of crap," said a high school boy during lunch hour. "You don't have the balls to ask out one of the hottest girls in the school. Even if you did, you'd just get rejected right off the bat." He took a bite of his rice then went back to polishing the camera lens on his desk.

"Oh, yeah? Like you're one to talk, Tobi," the boy called Satou responded. "Have you even talked to a girl?"

Satou Takanashi was you average sixteen-year-old high school student: Plain looking face, short black hair, dark purple eyes. Nothing really stood out about him, though he did excel at academics. A soft-spoken boy who avoids conflict for the most part. He partook in no extracurricular activities and had no real hobbies or interests to speak of. Well, except for one.

Across the room sat the girl Tobi mentioned: Ageha Esperanza. Satou gazed over at her, she was the Spanish beauty of Maisen Acedemy. Mocha colored skin, wavy green hair that went down to her knees, golden-yellow eyes that shone like the sun, full lips that were always smiling, and breast that were just…

"Hey, Satou! You alright there?" Tobi called to him. "You were spacing out a bit there."

"Huh? What?" Satou broke out of his daze. "I'm gonna do it."

Satou stood up with a determined look in his eyes.

"Wait no. That is a horrible idea," Tobi interjected.

"Why? Tobi, I'd rather try and fail, than go my whole life regretting not doing something!"

He straightened his hair, fixed his tie, and marched over to the girl of his dreams. There were four other girls sitting with Ageha, talking excitedly. The all-American bombshell Yoshimitsu Halaway, the short Russian Tsubame Pavlischevich, the sharp-eyed Chinese Meimei Ishikawa, and the quiet but pensive Native American Matsuri Havasupai.

Satou stopped in front of them and nervously licked his lips. "Um."

The girls broke off their conversation and all looked at him.

"Can we help you, yes?" Tsubame inquired, silver twintails bobbing as she cocked her head.

"Esperanza-san?"

"Hm?" Ageha raised her head to get a better look at the boy.

The room grew quiet, and the students watched the scene unfold. They sat with baited breath, waiting for Satou's next move.

"Um. W-will you go out with me?" Satou exclaimed.

The brief few seconds before her reply felt like an eternity. Satou was mentally prepared for the rejection that Ageha was undoubtedly going to give. However, he wasn't prepared for what happened next.

"Alright."

An audible gasp of exasperation went around the room. Satou stood there in utter astonishment, mouth agape. The students all began to whisper to each other.

Ageha stood up and moved toward Satou. "Is this Saturday good for you? I think I have some free time then," she asked him.

"Uh, yeah," he answered, nodding absently.

"Okay, give me your phone. We'll exchange numbers."

Saou obediently pulled out his plain black phone and handed it to Ageha, who also had her own rose decorated phone out. Ageha tapped at the screens for a few seconds, then handed Satou back his phone. "And done. Now we got each other's numbers. I'll text you later," she smiled and sat back down.

"Okay," Satou said blankly. He turned and slowly walked back to his desk. The room was buzzing with gossip.

"Holy crap, I can't believe you got her to say yes. How did you do it?" Tobi asked him. "Um, hello? Earth to Satou?"

But Satou just sat there in a silent stupor, unable to process what had happened. He stayed like that for the rest of the day until he finally got home and looked at his phone. Two unread messages were there.

The first one: [Hey it's Ageha] and there was a little image of a cartoon smiley face.

The second one, more recently: [Hey you excited for Saturday? I know I am. Can't wait] This one had a winky face at the end of it.

Satou texted her back saying he was.

"I have a date with Ageha Esperanza," he reflected, scratching his head. "What the hell do you do on a date?"


	2. Chapter 1

The following day, Satou's class was abuzz with gossip about Ageha accepting his date proposal. At least five guys were standing around his desk bombarding him with questions.

"How'd you pull it off?" one of them asked.

"Can you teach me?" another guy jumped in.

"Does she have a sister?" said a third.

Satou just shrugged sheepishly as he took out his history text book. Since this morning he had been constantly questioned by boys and girls alike from Maisen Academy. Talk about Ageha and Satou quickly spread throughout the school.

"Okay, come on guys. Scram," Tobi said as he sat down next to Satou. "He asked a girl out, not win the lottery."

"Aw, don't be like that," a fourth guy jumped in.

Ageha was also being interrogated by several girls.

"Esperanza-san, why did you say yes to him?" said a girl with blonde pigtails.

"Did he force you or something?" asked another girl with green hair tied up in a ponytail.

"He's kinda cute. Does he have a brother?"

"Kinda cute? I think he's rather plain looking."

Ageha just sat at her desk and smiled at the girls. She brushed her hair aside and pulled out her textbook. "That's a secret between me and Satou."

"Eeehhhhh!" the girls all gasped.

At that time, the teacher entered the classroom. "Alright kids, back to your seats," he said with a scowl. He set his bag on the desk and began pulling out papers. "Now, turn your textbooks to page twenty-seven. We will be continuing chapter three from yesterday."

The students scurried back to their desks. Satou let out a heavy sigh and opened his textbook. His mind swirled with the events that had been unfolding. The incredibly beautiful and popular Ageha Esperanza agreed to go on a date with him. Much of the school was talking to and about them, spinning wild rumors. Satou also had virtually no idea what went on during a date. Maybe Hitomi can help out…

"Takanashi-san? Are you paying attention?" the teacher called out to him.

"Uh. Oh, sorry about that sensei."

Several of the students snickered and the teacher grumbled as he returned to the lesson.

"Are you sure you want to go on a date with him?" Tsubame whispered to Ageha.

"Yes I am. Now stop asking me that." She whispered back.

"Yeah, but I mean, he's just so average. And don't forget that you're-"

"I know, you don't have to remind me."

"What would Shimatami-sensei say about this?"

"I don't know. Why don't you ask her?"

"Esperanza-san! Pavlischevich-san! Is there something the two of you would like to share with the class?"

"No sensei," they said in unison.

Second period rolled around and Satou changed into his gym clothes. He and the other boys sat off to the side as the girls began their warm up exercises. Several guys crowded around him, questioning him.

"Hey, come on. You did something, right? Spill it."

"Yeah, did you pay her or blackmail her?"

"Is she returning a favor?"

"Did you use some sort of genjutsu on her?"

"Genjutsu? W-what do you think this is, a manga?" Satou interjected becoming annoyed with the seemingly endless questions. "Guys, just stop! I don't know what to tell you, because I don't know what happened, alright!"

"Geez, if you don't want to tell us, just say so."

PHWEET!

"Settle down over there, boys! You'll get your turn soon enough!" the gym teacher shouted from across the gymnasium.

As the boys shuffled back in line, grumbling all the while, Satou leaned over to Tobi.

"I'm getting real tired of being harassed like this," he sighed.

"What'd you expect?" Tobi answered, fiddling with his camera. "You did manage to get a date with one of the most popular girls in the school."

"Why do you have your camera?" Satou asked in a confused voice. "Where were you keeping it?"

"Well, on that note, here, check it out."

Tobi turned the camera screen to Satou and showed him pictures of Ageha. A few of them were from the classroom, some were outside the school itself, many were on trains for some reason, then more than a few were within the girl's locker room.

"Whoa! What the-? Why do you have so many pictures of her? How did you get some of these? This is the girl's locker room."

"I'm a man of my craft, and my craft is photography," Tobi responded flipping through the images on the camera. One of the images was of some girl wearing a vibrant outfit performing some kind of gymnastics, and there were several other people around her all wearing matching uniforms. "Whoops! Just ignore that one," Tobi said quickly moving to the next image.

"No, no, no! Go back! What was that?" Satou tried to grab the camera from Tobi.

"Hey! Don't worry about it. It's nothing!"

PHWEEET!

"Boys! Keep it down over there! Geez!"

The girls giggled as Satou and Tobi fidgeted on the floor.

Ageha, Yoshimitsu, and Tsubame moved forward in the line.

"So," Yoshimitsu started, "where ya going for ya date?"

Ageha brushed her hair back and smiled. "I don't know. I'm letting Satou choose the place."

"You're letting him choose?" Tsubame jumped in. "Aren't you afraid he'll pick someplace terrible?"

"Someplace terrible? Like what?"

"Yeah, like, he could take you to a game store. Or whatever they're called," Yoshimitsu added.

"Or you might end up going to an otaku lounge. Think of all those sweaty people in there."

"Sweaty people? What are you talking about?" Ageha inquired in a dubious voice.

"Like, it could be worse too, y'know?"

"Worse?

"Yeah," Tsubame said, leaning in close, "maid café."

Yoshimitsu nodded in agreement.

Ageha raised a skeptical eyebrow. "What's so bad about a maid café?"

"WHAT'S SO BAD!" Tsubame shouted.

PHWEEEEET!

"Girls! You too! If you want to gossip, do so during lunch!"

The three girls all jumped a bit at the reprimanding. They looked sheepishly at the teacher and gave apologetic smiles. The gym teacher shook his head and resumed the warm up.

"What's so bad is that you'll be in a room with sweaty otaku, as they drool all over those dolled up women," Tsubame finished in a whisper. "Kinda gross, don't you think?"

"Yeah, an' like, d'ya really wanna go someplace with other girls wearing short skirts and low-cut tops? You'd totally be in competition with 'em. His eyes would totally wonder, y'know?" Yoshimitsu put in.

"You girls are _muy loca_ if you think Satou would take me to some maid café. And on the first date, no less," Ageha responded coolly. "Plus, do you really think I'd have anything to worry about with all this?" She gestured to her body.

Yoshimitsu and Tsubame both looked at each other then back to Ageha. They shrugged and made exasperated expressions.

"Eeeh."

"You two are _horriblé_."

Gym eventually finished and calculus went by fairly quickly. Satou sat at his desk next to Tobi, quietly eating his lunch. Tobi had his camera out and was cleaning the parts. Nobody crowded around him this time, but people kept looking at him then whispered to each other.

"So," Tobi started talking between eating and polishing, "got anything in mind for your date?"

Satou stopped eating and stared forward. "Aw dammit, no! I honestly have no idea what to do."

"Really dude? You've got two days until your date, yet you don't have anything planned? Have you even told your mom?"

"Yes, no, maybe. Shut up!" Satou turned back to his lunch. "Maybe Hi-chan can help out?"

"Hitomi? Think she'll help you?"

"It's worth a shot."

Satou pulled out his phone and sent a text to Hitomi.

Satou [Hey Hi-chan. Can you help me out with something?]

A few minutes later he received a text back.

Hitomi [Hey little bro. whats up?]

Satou [Well I got a date this Saturday]

Hitomi [WHAT? You got a date? With who?]

Satou [Ageha Esperanza]

Hitomi [Really?]

Satou [Yeah, I actually need a bit of help]

Hitomi [kay no prob. I'll meet you in front of the school when you get out]

Satou put his phone away and gave Tobi a triumphant look. "See? Problem solved."

Tobi just shook his head and returned to his camera.

"What do you think those two are talking about?" Ageha inquired from across the room.

"Who knows," Meimei answered.

"Anime?" Tsubame added.

"Girls?" Yoshimitsu put in.

"Anime girls?" Matsuri said quietly

Ageha laughed at what her friends said. "No, I'm serious. What do you think they're talking about?"

"Who knows."

"Anime."

"Girls."

"Anime girls."

"You _chicas_ are silly."

"Well, what did you expect?" Meimei asked. "They're just a couple of teenaged boys. What else would be on their minds?"

"Isn't Takanashi-san one of the top students in the class?" Tsubame chimed in. "Surely they would talk about other things."

"Like what?" Matsuri said.

"I dunno. Sports?" Ageha replied

"Like, cars maybe?" Yoshimitsu added.

The girls shrugged then all laughed.

"So, are you really going through with the date?" Tsubame asked. "You still have two days to call it off."

"Yes, I still am going through with it. No, I am not calling it off."

"But why are you going through with it? Why didn't you just say no?"

Ageha shrugged then returned to her lunch.

"Okay, don't tell us why."

After school ended, Satou stood at the front gate waiting for Hitomi.

"Hey, little bro! Ready to have some fun?" a woman's voice rang out.

Satou felt a thump on his back as he turned to the direction of the voice. Hitomi Tanaka was a twenty-year-old alumnus of Maisen Academy. She was a few inches taller than Satou, had medium length black hair that was tied up in a ponytail, emerald green eyes, and her upper lip turned up a little. She wore a simple white blouse with the top few buttons undone to expose her ample cleavage, a grey leopard print skirt that was way too short, and a red sweater tied around her waist. She also had a small white purse dangling off her left arm. Needless to say, she was drawing a lot of looks from passerby.

"Why do you keep calling me that? We're only cousins."

"Naw, man. We've known each other for ages," Hitomi grabbed Satou in her arm and gave him a noogie. "We used to play together. You'll always be my little brother!"

"Gah! Knock it off, Hi-chan!" Satou sputtered pulling himself out of Hitomi's grip. "Come on, we're not kids anymore."

"Aww, what's the matter? Afraid I'll kick your ass?" she teased.

"Heh, as if."

"Whatever. Let's just get going already. Gotta make you all nice looking for your big date," Hitomi cooed in a playful manner, poking Satou in the ribs.

"Just a sec. Let me text my mom, let her know I'll be with you."

"Come on, hurry up! I'd like to get to the mall before it closes.

Satou and Hitomi arrived at the mall, and Hitomi bulldozed her way to a clothing department store. She began pulling various items off the racks and shelves and tossed them to Satou.

"Hey! Slow down," he cried out. "Do we actually need all of this?"

"Well, you wanna look your best, right? So, we're gonna sample a buncha different clothes," she responded, tossing a pair of pants at him. "So, what do you have planned for your big date?"

"That's actually why I asked for your help. I don't have any plans."

Hitomi stopped dead in her tracks and turned to Satou. "What did you just say?"

"I said I have nothing planned. That's-"

"And when did you ask this girl out?"

"Uh, yesterday. But really-"

"And when is your date?"

"Saturday," Satou answered becoming very worried with Hitomi's changing demeanor.

Hitomi moved toward Satou, grabbed him by the collar, and pulled him close to her face.

"ARE YOU INSANE!" she shouted. Several nearby people jumped at the sudden outburst.

"Uh, what?"

"You asked out a girl, have only a few days before the date, and you don't have anything planned?!"

"In all fairness, I never dreamed she would actually say yes," Satou answered sheepishly.

"You! Are! So! Stupid!" Hitomi began to shake Satou. She let go of him and pulled out her phone. "Okay, new plan. You're so lucky you have me for a cousin." Hitomi began tapping furiously at her phone screen.

"Uh, what's going on?" Satou asked.

"What's going on is that I'm saving your ass," she answered. "Can't believe it. No plans, nothing."

Several quiet minutes passed with Hitomi tapping at her phone. Satou stood there dumbfounded, a bit rattled from his cousin yelling at him.

"Alright, let's find you something to wear," Hitomi clapped her hands together then began sifting through the pile of clothes she picked out. "Hm, no, no, no," she kept holding up shirts to Satou but would reject them immediately. "Red's not really your color, is it?"

"How should I know? Aren't you the 'expert' here?" Satou answered a little indignantly.

Hitomi gave Satou a look and returned to the pile of clothes.

"Wait, hold on!" she stopped to hold a shirt up and looked at Satou with an eyebrow raised. "How did this get in here?"

The shirt in question was bright green and had characters from one of the Gundam series printed on it.

"UM, well, you know…" Satou scratched his head nervously.

"No graphic shirts!" Hitomi shouted, drawing looks from nearby shoppers. "Especially not on a first date. You're not twelve anymore."

She threw the shirt aside and kept looking.

"Maybe layering would be good?"

"Layering?"

"Yeah, let's see. Wait here."

Hitomi stood up and walked toward a shirt rack. She returned shortly with a few button-down t-shirts.

"Okay, red's outta the question. So, we're looking at blue, orange, green or purple," Hitomi held the shirts up to Satou comparing them. "Hmm, blue is a pretty good color on you. Now, what to wear under it?" She handed a light-blue plaid shirt to Satou, and looked through the pile again. "White would be a safe choice, but… Hey, Satou!"

"Uh, yeah?" Satou responded, snapping out of his daze.

"What color are this Esperanza girl's eyes?"

"What color? How should I know?"

"Satou, come on."

The young man turned his head and said quietly, "They're yellow."

"Yellow, perfect. I do believe we have that." Hitomi searched through the pile and pulled out a simple yellow t-shirt. "Okay, let's see now."

She held up the blue-plaid shirt with the yellow one in front of Satou.

"Yeah, this could work. I think blue jeans would go well, too," Hitomi grabbed a pair of jeans and handed everything to Satou. "Now, go try it on, little bro."

"What? Try on?"

"Yeah, wanna make sure it looks good on you. Now, hurry up. The changing rooms are over there."

"Um, okay," Satou slowly turned and shuffled over to the changing rooms. "Why do I have to try them on?"

After a few minutes, Satou stepped out of the changing room with the clothes on.

"Oh, they look perfect. You'll knock 'em out for sure," Hitomi exclaimed with a thumb's up.

"Knock 'em out?"

"Never mind. Go take the clothes off, and meet me at the register, 'kay?"

"Yeah, sure."

Satou and Hitomi stood in line at the register, waiting.

"So, HI-chan, uh who's paying for all this? It's kind of pricey," Satou inquired.

"Don't sweat it, little bro. I gotcha covered here," she answered, checking her e-mail. "In fact, most of your date is gonna be covered by yours truly. Consider it an early birthday present."

"Oh, that's awful kind of you." He scratched his head somewhat nervously. "by the way, you haven't told me what my date is going to be."

"Right. Don't worry. We'll talk about it in the food court after we finish paying," Hitomi stepped up to the register and dumped the clothes on the counter. "I also have a coupon for purchases over five thousand yen."

"Of course, miss," the cashier said as she rang up the items.

Satou grabbed the bag with his newly bought clothes, and the two of them left the department store.

"Is it alright that we just a pile of clothes on the floor in there?"

"Relax, it's fine. It's their job to put clothes back on the shelves."

"Well, if you say so."

At the food court, Hitomi stopped at

'McMillan's' and ordered a Big-N-Tasty meal, while Satou just bought a small soda. They grabbed their food, sat down at one of the tables and Hitomi took a large bite from her Tasty Burger.

"Mmmm-mm. Nothing like a juicy burger after a hard day's work," she said taking another bite. "Okay, listen up, dumb-dumb. Here's the game plan for your date. You are going to go to Chuo Street in Ginza; you will meet this Ageha girl at Café Dolcé at twelve; you will be there by at least eleven thirty; you will eat lunch there; then, you will check out a few of the shops, no anime stores unless she suggests it; afterward, you will start to heading toward Hibiya Park and walk around there; if around five or six o'clock you start to get hungry, a street vendor is fine; stay in the park and watch the sunset; then, start making your way back to Chuo, check out a couple more shops; and finally, take the train back here, walk the girl back to her house and make out with her," Hitomi started to French her burger right there.

"Hitomi!"

"Hey, whatever happens, happens," she said wiping ketchup from the corner her mouth. "But, that's the gist of your date. I'll e-mail you a syllabus for you to review. It'll have do's and don'ts for a first date. Don't worry about Café Dolcé. I have a friend who works there, she'll get you a seat by the window."

Hitomi finished her food, then she and Satou made their way to the mall's exit. The sun was starting to creep towards the horizon, causing them to squint in the late summer light. As Satou blinked trying to adjust his eyes, he heard the sound of someone running towards him. He turned and saw a girl with mocha brown skin and wavy green hair dash right past him. Satou turned to get a better look, but the girl had disappeared.

"What the- Was that Ageha?" he exclaimed in confusion.

Hitomi chuckled then slapped him on the back. "What? Don't be silly. You're probably just too excited about Saturday and your eyes are playing tricks on you. Geez, calm down little bro. Your date will get here soon enough."

"Huh, maybe you're right," he said rubbing his eyes. "It was probably just the sun messing with my perception, and my nervousness as well."

"There you go! Just get some rest, or else you'll wear yourself out.

The sun was sinking into the horizon by the time Satou returned home.

"Hey, Sa-kun. Have fun with your cousin?" his mother greeted him as he slipped off his shoes. "Ooh, what do you have there? Some goodies?" she snatched the bag out of Satou's hands before he had time to react. "Oh, these are cute. So, what's the occasion?"

Miyuki Takanashi was a woman in her late thirties. She had a slender frame with medium sized breasts, black hair that fell down to her waist and was tied at the end with a yellow ribbon, and had amber colored eyes. She wore a white apron over a simple pink blouse and pastel blue skirt.

"Mom, please," Satou grabbed the bag back. "I, uh, I have a date this Saturday."

Miyuki's eyes lit up at the word 'date' and she pulled her son into a tight hug. "My baby is growing up. Soon he'll have children of his own, and I'll spoil them like a fun grandmother."

"Mom, you're crushing me," Satou choked.

"Oh, sorry," she let Satou go and he gasped for air. "So, who's the lucky girl?"

"Um, her name's a Esperanza Ageha."

Miyuki stared blankly at her son. "May I see a picture of her?"

"Oh, right." Satou pulled out his phone and brought up Ageha's MyFace page. "Alright, this is her," he handed his phone to his mother.

"Oh, she's cute. So, how'd you meet her?"

"She's actually in the same class as me," Satou said while blushing lightly. "I asked her out yesterday. Hitomi was giving me a bit of help with it just earlier today."

"So that's why you were hanging out with your cousin. I see," Miyuki said with a sly grin. "Need any help from me?"

"No, mom. I think I got this."

"You sure? Because I was a teenaged girl once too. Maybe, you know, a woman's perspective would be useful?"

"If I need any help, I'll just contact Hitomi. She'll know what to do."

"Oh, okay fine," Miyuki moped a little. "Your father won't be home for another twenty minutes or so. Why don't you get cleaned up?" Miyuki said returning to the kitchen

"Yeah, sure. Alright." Satou turned and strolled over to his room and dropped his bags on the desk. He flopped down on his bed and let out a sigh. His mind wandered to the mystery girl outside the mall. "I could've sworn that was Ageha. Maybe Hitomi's right. Maybe I am just too wound up," Satou looked up out his window and watched the last of the light fade from the sky.


	3. Chapter 2

At six thirty the next day, an alarm clock went off and Ageha was roused from her sleep. After turning the alarm off, she sat up in bed and stretched, causing her back to click a few times, and then she pulled the hairband out of her hair. Ageha shook her head and her long, wavy locks fell down around her, framing her body. She stood and strode over to her dressing table, where she grabbed a brush with a black and red paisley pattern and began brushing her hair. After brushing out most of the tangles, Ageha put on a dressing gown and made her way downstairs to the dining room for breakfast.

Ageha's mother was in the kitchen cleaning pots and pans, humming a tune to herself. She wiped her hand across her brow and grabbed a scummy-looking bowl. The television in the kitchen could be heard.

" _Buenos dias,_ " she called out, vigorously scrubbing the filthy dish.

" _Buenos dias, mamá,_ " Ageha sat down at the table opening the rice cooker.

" _Mi hija,_ we only have rice and miso soup for breakfast," the brunette woman stuck her head around the corner. Isabella Esperanza had wavy black hair tied up and draped over her shoulder, round dark-green eyes, and her ears stuck out ever so slightly. "Apparently, I misread the expiration date on the fish. I thought it was good thru August, not June. That six looked like and eight."

" _Esta bien_ ," the teenaged girl answered as she ladled miso soup into her bowl. She quietly ate her meal as she contemplated what might happen tomorrow. {Well, it's just one date,} she thought. {What could possibly happen? I mean, other than the usual 'stuff'}.

["And in other news, many locals have reported that there was some kind of attack near the Nakatomi Mall last night. Several explosions and flashing lights were apparently seen at around six o clock. One eye witness gave us a recount of the event."] Ageha heard the news report from the kitchen.

["Yah, it was dem flahin' people,"] the screen cut to a homeless man carrying an empty bottle of alcohol. Several of his teeth were missing, and he clearly had an odious stench about him because the reporter was holding the microphone at arm's length, doing her best to hide the fact she kept holding her hand over her nose. ["They jus' ZOOOM! an' thar gone. Spittin' fahr, an' shootin' latnin."] The man attempted to take a swig from his empty bottle. ["Hey, who took ahll da booze?"]

The screen cut back to the news caster. ["Authorities would like to assure the people of Nakatomi that such incidents were not acts of terrorism, but likely vandalism. The explosions and lights were probably caused by a group of junior or senior high school students setting off fireworks around the mall in an act of teenaged rebellion. Should anyone catch these prankster, please do not hesitate to inform the police."]

Isabella stepped into to the dining room and looked at her daughter, one eyebrow raised. Ageha smiled and quickly finished her soup, then rushed to her room to get dressed for school. She closed the door behind her and locked it. The Spanish girl crossed her room to her dresser and pulled open one of the drawers. She sifted through her underwear and grabbed a bra. Holding it up to her chest, she examined herself in front of the mirror, then shook her head and put it back. She pulled another one out and looked it over. Nodding in silent agreement with herself, Ageha pulled the matching pair of panties from a second drawer and slipped both garments on. Next came the stockings, which she put on with ease. Ageha turned and grabbed the blouse of her school uniform off the hanger from the hook on the wall. She squeezed the buttons around her breasts, then let out a sigh of relief when none of them popped off. After that, she took the pink plaid skirt and pulled it up around her waist. She smoothed the fabric with her hands and turned around in front of the mirror, smiling at herself. Finally, Ageha grabbed the matching necktie from her dressing table and swiftly wrapped it around her neck. Ageha slipped a watch onto her wrist, grabbed her school bag, and made her way to the front door.

" _Mi hija,_ don't forget; your father and I will be going over to the Nishikawa's tonight," Isabella called to her daughter. "Dinner will be on you."

" _İSí, mamá!_ " Ageha responded as she slipped her shoes on. " _İHasta la noche!"_ The girl cried out as she left for school.

Ageha walked down the street at a brisk pace. She rounded the corner and dashed down the hill. Tsubame waited for her at the bottom of the hill. She waved to her friend and strode up to her.

"Hey, how's it going?" Tsubame asked. "Wake up alright?"

"Yeah, nothing changed here," Ageha replied. "Did you hear the news this morning?"

"You mean the one with the homeless drunk?" Tsubame yawned. "Yeah, do you think anyone will take it seriously?"

"Who knows? My mom gave me a bit of a look though. Kinda like…" Ageha contorted her face trying to mimic the expression her mother gave her.

"Ha ha! Really? That's hilarious!" The silver-haired laughed. "My mom just gave me a thumb's up."

The two girls turned onto a street and headed for Uptown Nakatomi.

"It's not funny. You know we need to keep a low profile," the Spanish girl admonished her Russian friend. "Plus, my mom's looks can be scary."

"HEEEEY!" An energetic female's voice rang out from behind them. The blonde American rushed towards the two girls. Ageha and Tsubame stopped as Yoshimitsu clamped her arms around their necks. "Didja hear? Didja hear? We were on tha news!" she cried out excitedly, bouncing up and down.

Several students on their way to school turned and looked at the three girls. Ageha grabbed Yoshimitsu by the collar and stopped her bouncing. The three girls continued to school.

"Yoshi, you need to keep quiet about that."

"Oh, right, A-chan. It's a secret. Shh," Yoshimitsu put her finger to her mouth making the shushing gesture. "But, it's so exciting. I've never been on tv before," she said with barely restrained energy.

"We shouldn't be on tv at all," a stern voice reprimanded the excitable blonde.

"She's right," a soft voice agreed. "Even with the precautions we take, we shouldn't draw too much attention to ourselves. If any at all."

"Morning Meimei. Morning Matsuri," Tsubame called to the two girls.

"Yeah, but, like, that guy really got out of control," Yoshimitsu tried to explain.

"That's no excuse," Ageha chimed in. "If you maintain the perimeter, then he wouldn't have gotten out."

Tsubame and Matsuri both nodded in agreement and Yoshimitsu just pouted.

"Speaking of which," Meimei interjected, "Who's the one who almost ran into Takanashi-san yesterday?"

That quieted Ageha. She quickened her pace and pulled ahead from her friends.

"Ah! What was that about 'perimeter'?" Yoshimitsu chided.

" _İC-Cállate!_ " she shouted. "How did he even see me, anyway?"

The four girls laughed as Ageha stuttered.

"Yeah, how did he see you?" Tsubame inquired. "You had your camouflage on, right?"

"I did, that's what gets me," Ageha said in a confused voice. "My camouflage was on, so how was I seen?"

"Why was he even there in the first place?" Meimei added.

"I saw a girl with him," Matsuri responded. "She was quite animated, and familiar with Takanashi-san."

All five girls exchanged looks.

"I think I saw him shopping for clothes at one of the clothing stores there," Yoshimitsu said. "Yeah, the girl was tossing a bunch of clothes at Takanashi-san. She was picking out clothes for him."

"Eh, clothes?" Tsubame smirked, elbowing Ageha. "Sounds like Takanashi-san was getting ready for your big date, Ageha."

"W-what? You think so?" Ageha blushed a bit.

"But, who was the girl, then?" Tsubame put a finger to her mouth and furrowed her brow.

"Sister, perhaps?" Matsuri suggested. "Or a cousin?"

"Think so, Matsu-chin?" Yoshimitsu bounced around Matsuri.

The five girls approached the front gate of Maisen Academy and passed through it. Other students rushed past them, hurrying before the bell rings. Some kids still had toast in their mouths, trying to cram it down in a vain attempt. Others were hanging around the front door, as if they had all the time in the world. Tsubame pointed at someone as they neared the building.

"Hey, isn't that Takanashi-san there?" she said.

Ageha followed where Tsubame was pointing and saw a nondescript black-haired boy slowly plodding along the path. As the group got closer, they saw that it was indeed Satou Takanashi. Tobi Saruyama was walking next to him, camera out showing Satou its contents.

"C'mon, man. What's the big deal?" Tobi said jabbing Satou in the side.

"What's the big deal? How are you getting these pictures? That's the big deal," Satou answered in an irritated voice. "How is your photography club able to get pictures that guys could only dream of?"

"That is a trade secret," he said with a sly grin. "If I told you, I'd have to kill you."

"Heh, yeah sure."

"No, I'm serious. I will have to kill you if I told you," Tobi turned to Satou with a serious look. "The things that I know, Satou. The things that I've seen. It's enough to make a man sick."

"Okay, geez. If you don't want to tell me, just say so," he said, brushing his friend off. "I get it, it's a need to know basis. And I'm not on the list that needs to know."

"Hey, Takanashi-san," a female voice called from behind the two boys.

They turned to see Ageha with her friends approaching them.

"Uh, hey, Esperanza-san," Satou stumbled over his words.

Ageha gave Satou a warm look, then turned to Tobi, "Saruyama," she said with a dour expression.

"Sup," he replied amiably.

The four other girls gave Tobi equally disgusted looks as they passed by. They entered the school building, and quickly put on their school shoes.

"I still can't believe that guy," Tsubame exclaimed. "And you're sure we haven't found any evidence incriminating him?"

"None," Meimei answered. "We've scoured the girl's locker room, yet we found nothing. It's maddening."

"And any time we try to take his camera, he mysteriously doesn't have it with him," Ageha added on. "Weirder still, is he has had it with him when we confront him, yet it just disappears."

"I dunno, I kinda like the attention," Yoshimitsu said.

"Yoshi, you know that man is selling pictures of not just us, but other girls from the school, right?" Tsubame said with an eyebrow raised.

Yoshimitsu just shrugged and slung her bag over her shoulder. The four other girls all let out an exasperated sigh.

"Alright, our class for lunch?" Tsubame asked.

"Isn't it always?" Meimei said in a snarky tone.

"Come on, girls. Let's just go to class," Ageha tried to reign in her friends.

They split up and went to their respective classrooms. Ageha and Tsubame were both in the same class on the second floor, Yoshimitsu was in the next class over. Matsuri and Meimei, however, were in a grade lower, and their class was on the first floor. As Ageha and Tsubame approached their classroom, they saw a girl with platinum blonde hair standing next to the door. She gave Ageha a somewhat dirty look, then walked away, flipping her hair in the process.

"What was that all about?" Tsubame said to Ageha.

" _No sé_. That girl is just crazy," Ageha shook her head.

The two girls entered the room and sat down at their desks and pulled out their textbooks. While Tsubame played on her phone before the start of class, Ageha turned in her seat and looked at Satou. Tobi was currently trying to get Satou to look at something on his camera, pictures of girls no doubt. Satou pretended to not want to see what was on the camera, but kept looking at every image he was shown. With the most recent image, he turned away in either disgust or embarrassment, Tobi cackling to himself. The boy caught Ageha looking at him. She smiled and waved, and he returned it to her.

{What should I do?} Ageha thought to herself. {I agreed to go on a date with him on a whim. No real interest or disinterest}. She opened her notebook and began scrawling in the margins. {Am I doing this for attention? Maybe I'm just being difficult? Dating isn't forbidden, but with someone like him? It's frowned upon. Well, it's too late now, right? Tomorrow is when it's happening}. The Spanish girl shaded in the rose that she had been doodling. Lost in her thoughts, she sighed heavily.

"Something bothering you?" Tsubame spoke up.

"Hmm, no, not really," Ageha breathed. "Just thinking is all."

"That can't be good for you," Tsubame put her phone in her desk as the homeroom teacher walked through the door.

" _¿Qué?_ What can't be good? Thinking?"

"Settle down, children! I'm going to be taking role," the teacher called out. She was a woman in her thirties, long orange hair in a hime cut, with thin glasses. "Huh, is Yoshizawa-san absent again?"

"Yes," said a girl with light brown hair two rows from the front. "She's still has a fever. But she should be in on Monday."

"Very well." The teacher went through all the student's names, making note of the absent Yoshizawa-san, and set the class roster on the desk. "Okay, class, I'm sure most of you have heard about the 'incident' at the mall last night," she said looking over the class. "Regardless of who it may or may not have been, I want you all to remember that you are faces of Maisen Academy. So, don't do anything that will disgrace the honor of our school," she let her gaze linger for just a moment on Ageha and Tsubame. It was too quick for most of the students to see, but they felt the burn of her glare. "That's all, for now. Study hall begins. Please, try and keep the noise to a minimum." The teacher sat down at the desk and opened a folder.

Most of the students just sat at their desks and quietly played on their phones. A few did talk amongst themselves, but conversations consisted of short sentences. Satou flipped through his homework, taking the time in homeroom to double check his work. Tobi restlessly fiddled with his camera. Currently, he was trying to discern what was causing distortions in the pictures he would take.

"I may need to take this to an expert," he said quietly to no one in particular.

"I thought you were an expert," Satou responded in a slightly bored voice.

"Well, I'm an expert **photographer,** most of my expertise lie in taking pictures," Tobi unscrewed the lens from the camera. "And, while I do have knowledge of my equipment, I am in no way equipped to fix it if there is any damage." He gave a disgusted noise when he couldn't find what the problem with his camera was. "I **am** going to have to take this to be repaired. I just bought this thing too."

"Well, doesn't that sound like fun?" Satou said somewhat sarcastically.

"Not really. This means dealing with that guy."

"I'm going to regret this, but, what guy?"

"Old man Fujiyama Yoshito. He runs a specialty shop in Blossom Heights," Tobi said, grinding his teeth. "But, he can be…difficult to deal with."

"How so?"

"Why don't you tag along and find out? It'll make going there a little bit bearable."

"Ummmm. Ookaaay?" Satou said with a little hesitation.

"Great! It's settled. You'll be accompanying me to a trip to hell," Tobi said with a satisfied look, putting away his camera.

"Why do I feel as if I agreed to something horrible?"

"Because you did."

Meanwhile, in a dark room, a figure sat in front of six computer monitors. One large one with five smaller ones surrounding it. The figure sat at what appeared to be a control panel. The larger monitor displayed various images and videos of several people wearing colorful costumes running around, performing fantastic stunts. The five smaller monitors had displayed a shadowed figure in each of them. A discussion was being held, and a decision was soon to be deliberated.

"So, how's reconnaissance on Maisen Academy faring?" one of the people asked.

"As well as expected," the person in the dark room answered. "They currently don't suspect a thing."

"Don't let it go to your head," a second person added. "Maisen can be quite deceitful when they want to be."

"Yes, they may be a mish mash of various ethnicities," a third person stepped in, "But they are just as trained and equipped."

The figure in the room rolled their eyes and scratched at their chin. "So, what is it you want done here?"

"You have received the spell tags, correct?" the first person asked.

"Yeah, they arrived like a day ago," the figure fished around their pocket and produced a strip of paper with a series of kanji written on one side. "What are these things for, anyway?"

"Attach one to a person," a fourth voice rang out. "See if anything fun happens."

"Fun? Fun how?"

"Just trust us," the second person answered. "They will be doing patrols tonight, right?"

"Yeah, weekdays they send out two or three squads to survey an area," the figure responded. "Last night got kinda wild though."

There was a brief pause as the five people quickly conversed with themselves.

"Don't let things get too out of hand," a fifth voice echoed, a bit more forceful then the other four. "Not yet, at least. Test out a few of the spell tags, then report back to us. We will be cross-examining the results you have with the others."

"Understood."

And with that, the five smaller screens went blank. The figure pushed back the chair and stood, stretching as they did so. They looked at the spell tag in their hand and gave a wicked smile. "Alright then, let's have some fun."

At lunch, Ageha sat quietly as she ate her meal. Her friends talked excitedly, unaware of her silence at first. Something kept bothering her about yesterday's patrol, but she wasn't quite sure what. She absently chewed on her chicken stew, barely noticing the taste.

"A-chan? You alright?" Yoshimitsu said. "You've been scooping at that empty bowl for a while now."

"Huh? Oh, yeah," Ageha put the lid back on the plastic bowl and sent it inside her lunch box. "Well, I was just thinking about the patrol we did yesterday."

"Yeah, what about it?" Tsubame asked, munching on kholodets.

"Well, didn't it seem odd that those guys kept trying to move out of the barrier?"

The four girls set down their utensils and thought for a second. "Hey, you're right," Meimei exclaimed. "It was as if they wanted to escape the barrier and get noticed by people."

"But why? Wouldn't they want to remain concealed?" Matsuri said in a soft voice.

"Yeah, like, aren't we supposed to be sneaky-quiet and everything?" Yoshimitsu said bouncing in her seat.

Meanwhile across the room, Satou tapped on his phone checking his e-mail. He looked over the message Hitomi sent him last night. "Hey, get a look at this," he said to Tobi.

"What's up?"

"It's the itinerary Hi-chan made up for my date Saturday. It's quite detailed."

Tobi squinted and looked at the screen. "11:30 arrive at café. 12:00 meet with date, enter café. 12:00-1:30 allotted time for lunch, talk with her, ask about likes and dislikes," he read a few lines aloud. "Man, she practically thought of everything."

"I know. She even has things like: remember to chew with your mouth closed; listen to what she says; if it starts to feel cold, offer your jacket." Satou scrolled through the itinerary, smacking his lips. "Looks like she has me going to Hibiya Park."

"Really? That's a pretty romantic place to visit," Tobi said, picking at his lunch. "Got a nice view of the Imperial Palace."

"Still upset about your camera?"

"…Yeah. It's just that the camera's brand new. Bums me out that it has a problem already."

The rest of the day passed without much happening. Satou would peek at his phone between classes to get a look at the itinerary, Tobi kept fussing over his camera, and Ageha kept trying to discuss the situation from lunch with her friends. Finally, at the day's end, Satou's class moved the desks around to clean the room. Tobi was charged with dusting the room, and he kept horsing around with the duster pretending it was a sword.

"En garde!" he cried out.

A couple of girls giggled at his display, but most of the students just rolled their eyes.

"Tobi, just dust the room," Satou said from the dry-erase board. He sprayed windex onto the board and wiped it clean.

Ageha busied herself with window cleaning, while Tsubame collected the trash from around the room.

"So, what are we going to tell Shimatami-sensei?" she asked Ageha.

"You mean about yesterday?" Ageha responded nonchalantly. "I don't know, but I have a feeling we're really going to get an earful from her."

"Ugh, I think you're right. Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps."

Tsubame picked up the waste basket and headed for the door. Satou absently cleaned the board and scooted his way toward the other end of it. He finished the chore and shuffled over to the closet to return the cleaner and wash towel. At that moment, Ageha was turning away from the closet.

"Oh, finished already?" she said with a smile. "Here, the closet's ready for you."

"Uh, yeah. Hi," Satou said rather awkwardly.

Ageha giggled at his behavior. "Well, go ahead," she gestured to the closet.

"Huh? Oh, right." Satou stumbled to the closet and set the items inside.

"So, are you ready for tomorrow?" Ageha asked in a cheery voice.

"Tomorrow?"

"The date, silly. Don't tell me you forgot."

"Um, no?"

"Alright, _hasta maňana_ ," Ageha waved and turned.

"Asta what?" Satou said in a confused voice.

"It means, 'see you tomorrow', in Spanish."

"Oh, asta man-yana," he replied with a wave. Satou felt his heart skip a beat as he stared into space with a goofy expression.

Tobi strolled over to Satou and slapped an arm around his shoulder. "So, ready to peer into the entrance to Hell?"

"Hell? Oh, you mean that shop," Satou said, snapping back to reality.

"Duh, what else could I have meant?"

The two boys made their way to the lockers. Students all clamored to leave school as fast as they could. Satou and Tobi slipped off their school shoes and put on their normal ones. The school looked as if someone had opened a flood gate as the children all rushed out. A fair-skinned girl with platinum blonde hair passed by the two boys as she talked to a dark-skinned girl with long violet hair.

"I hope we don't get placed on 'D' again," she said. "It's boring there."

"Even if we do, there's nothing we can do about it," the dark-skinned girl replied calmly.

"But, it's just so…"

She trailed off as she moved further away from Satou and Tobi.

"Ready for your big day tomorrow?" Tobi asked.

"Ugh, no," Satou responded, sounding somewhat defeated. "Just thinking about it makes me nervous."

"Aw, cheer up," Tobi said nudging him in the side. "You got a date with the third hottest girl in school."

"Third?"

"It's based on popularity. Right now, Rashida Sunakawa is in first, she has that whole regal thing going; followed by Washiko Yoshizawa, the demure Japanese young woman; and finally, Ageha Esperanza, she's quite exuberant and mature."

"Okay, jeez. Don't need all of their stats," said waved him off. "Are you reading off dossier cards?"

"No," Tobi quickly stuffed something into his bag.

Satou and Tobi exited the school campus and turned toward Blossom Height, where the specialty shop was located.


	4. Chapter 3

Ageha and her friends raced across the rooftops of the city. They skillfully maneuvered from building to building carefully avoid being seen from the people on the streets below.

"Okay Alpha Squad, you'll be patrolling Area G of the city," a woman's voice squawked from a piece in they're ears. "Bravo Squad, you'll be taking Area D."

"Roger that, sensei," Ageha's 'Alpha Squad' confirmed.

" _QUOI_!" A female French voice blurted out in anger. "We're going to 'D' again?"

"Fleur, don't make a scene," another female voice rang across the radio. "It's just a routine patrol."

"But we were assigned to 'D' yesterday, Rashida! Nothing ever happens in 'D'. Sensei…

"Midoriya-san, you do remember that your squad is short one member due to Yoshizawa-san's current ailment? Do you wish for your squad to complete even more extracurricular training?" The first woman's voice interjected.

"No, Shimatami-sensei," Fleur responded.

"Good. Now, everyone to your patrolling areas," Shimatami reaffirmed.

For convenience sake, that city was divided into eight sections that were labeled Areas A through H. Part of the duty as a shinobi was to perform routine patrols of the various sections of the city, with the available squads being sent on a rotating schedule. Certain areas of the city, such as the school, the neighborhoods, and the mall, were considered 'high risk' areas due to the amount of people that frequented these locations at any given time. Other shinobi could very well use those places to infiltrate and perform covert missions.

Tsubame steered her squad toward the area in the city that was marked 'G'. They sailed through the air and landed on top of the Shopper's Plaza entrance gate. "Okay, Ageha, you take the north wing. Yoshimitsu, you take the south wing. Meimei and Matsuri, I want you to cover the southern circle together. I will take the northern circle myself."

All four girls nodded, then leapt down from the build and took up their positions. Tsubame nodded to herself, then grinded down a drainage pipe to street level, deftly landing behind an arborvitae. She scanned the area to make sure no one had seen her and she entered the outdoor mall. Inside the food court, the silver-haired girl swiftly moved through the crowd. She dodged between people while surveying the food court. Currently, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but she was poised to react should the need arise.

Ageha moved through the aisles of the sporting goods store, but nothing suspicious was found. So, she moved on to the kitchenware retail. Meimei and Matsuri raced from one side of a thrift store to the next. Matsuri stopped suddenly and turned around to look behind her.

"What is it?" Meimei said.

"I thought I saw something," Matsuri responded quietly. "Perhaps it was nothing."

"Should we report this to Tsubame?"

"Probably not."

Matsuri and Meimei continued their patrol of the south wing of the mall.

Yoshimitsu darted around several street vendors. She peered around a table of phone accessories, then picked a bunny rabbit keychain off the table. "Ooh, this is cute," she cried out.

"Yoshimitsu, focus," Tsubame's voice crackled in her ear. "You can look at accessories when we're finished patrolling.

" _Sorry_ , Tsu-chan," Yoshimitsu apologized putting the keychain back.

Tsubame looked left then right, but nothing out of the ordinary was found. She dashed from one picnic table to the next, taking care to avoid the people there. Standing behind a kiosk, she peered around it. Everything seemed in order, but she caught sight of something moving along the ground and jump into the bushes. She quietly crossed the food court to the line of bushes. After looking over the shrubbery, Tsubame found only the discarded bag to one of the stores stuck in the branches. At that moment, the silver-haired girl felt as if she was being watched. She spun around to see if there was anything suspicious, and saw a gleam from underneath one of the picnic tables. Quickly moving to the table, Tsubame looked under it only to find nothing. She scratched her head in confusion, certain there was something here just a second ago.

She considered calling the other four over to her position to briefly discuss the encounter, but dismissed the idea. It's entirely possible she was just spooking herself, and that she was trying to make something extraordinary out of the ordinary. After another minute of debating, Tsubame decided to forget the situation and then proceeded to check the public restrooms. From beneath one of the larger picnic tables in the center of the food court, a pair of green glowing eyes looked out at the world.

Across the city, Satou and Tobi made their way down the street in Blossom Heights. A couple of young boys holding action figures ran past them.

"Take that, Shining Knight!" one of them shouted. "You can't beat the Dark Master!"

"HA! You can't defeat justice!" the other boy shouted. "Shining Sword!"

The two laughed excitedly as they ran off into the distance.

"Heheh, I remember watching the Justice Knights as a kid," Satou chuckled.

"FOR JUSTICE!" Tobi cried out.

"FOR PEACE!" Satou added.

"THE JUSTICE KNIGHTS SHALL DEFEAT EVIL!" they both said in unison.

Satou and Tobi looked at each other then started to laugh.

"I can't believe you still know the Justice Knights creed," Satou said brushing back his hair.

"Are you kidding me? My younger brother watches that cartoon every Saturday morning," Tobi replied. "There's no way I wouldn't know the creed."

Satou and Tobi rounded the street corner and made their way down the inclined road. The sun was slowly creeping towards the horizon, and the two boys squinted in the glaring light.

"So, you excited about your big date tomorrow?" Tobi started.

"More nervous than excited," Satou answered. "I almost feel like puking, to be honest. I never thought someone like Esperanza-san would agree to go on a date with me. It practically feels like a dream."

(SMACK!) Tobi slapped Satou upside the head.

"OW! What was that for?!"

"Nope, not dreaming," Tobi said with a smirk.

"Geez, you didn't have to hit me so hard."

"No, but I felt like it. Keep you from getting a big head."

"Riiight," Satou said rubbing the back of his skull. "Is there anyone you're interested in asking out?"

(Snort) "Me? No way," Tobi answered quickly. "I'm way too busy anyhow."

"Busy? You? Come on, I've know you since we were seven. How are you too busy?"

"I've got…things I need to take care of…" Tobi said trailing off.

"Uh-huh, 'things'," Satou rolled his eyes. "What about that Midoriya girl? I know you keep looking at her."

"Only because I'm trying to find the right angle to photograph her," he said a little too quickly.

They passed by the public bath, where a homeless man sat on the curb muttering to himself. "Dem flahin' people, ah tell ya. Der effryware. Hypnotize ya, make ya do crazy things. Scrahmble yar braihn."

"Geez, will the city do nothing about that?" Satou said, nodding to the homeless man.

"Well, he's not hurting anyone. Usually just sits somewhere and talks to himself."

"Yeah, but how long until he does attack someone in a drunken stupor? What then?"

Tobi shrugged, "Let the authorities deal with it?"

They rounded a corner and Tobi stopped them in front of an old looking building.

"Alright, here we are. 'Fujiyama's Specialty Repair and More'," Tobi said, presenting the shop like some kind of tour guide.

"This place looks like a dump."

"Oh, it is. Make no mistake. But this is the only place I would go for camera repairs."

"Speaking of which, why don't you just take it to the store you purchased it from? I'm sure they would fix it for a reasonable price," Satou asked raising an eyebrow.

"I don't doubt they would. But what I need fixed, no underpaid store clerk be able to accommodate."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means I've done more than a little customization to this device. And this dump of a store is the only place I can possible take it for repairs. At least, without having to go two towns over."

As Satou and Tobi enter the shop, Satou immediately noticed the stench of mildew, air freshener, and one other scent he didn't want to identify. He stifled a sneeze causing his eyes to water.

"Oh, man. What died in here? It smells like my grandmother's taxidermized pet dog," He said. Looking around, the place seemed to resemble a pawn shop more than anything else.

"Knowing this place, probably a rat. Or ten," Tobi made his way to the front counter and banged on it. "Hey, old man Fujiyama! You in here?!"

There was a loud thud and an old man came shuffling to the front room. "Clearly I'm here. Seeing as the 'open' sign is on outside, and the door was unlocked," The man answered in a gruff, irritated voice. Old man Fujiyama looked to be in his seventies, maybe older. He was hunched over, and had an ungainly gait to his walk. His skin had a leathery look to it as if he had been dried out in the sun for too long. The hair on his head was a grey so light it was almost white, and had receded to the point of near baldness. He also had a goatee to match. A bent cigarette dangled from his mouth and a thin band of smoke trailed off the end. He had dark eyes that had seen many things, and bushy eyebrows just above them. A pair of thick glasses were balanced on his nose. Yoshito Fujiyama was the very image of a crotchety old man. Down to the turquoise track suit and sensible shoes he wore. "Oh, well, if it isn't my favorite customer. How can I be of service to you today?" He said to Tobi with an obvious air of disdain.

Tobi proceeded to extract his camera from his bag and handed it to the old man. "I think there's a crack in the lens that I fitted the camera with. Every time I take a picture, there's a weird distortion."

Fujiyama took the camera and unscrewed the lens off. He removed his glasses and out on a pair of crafting glasses, then peered at the machine. "Ah, here we go. It's not a crack, but a scratch. The distortion would be the same though," He said scratching his goatee. "So, what do you want me to do?"

"Uh, I want to do your job and fix it," Tobi said indignantly. "I mean, it shouldn't be too hard if it's just a scratch, right?"

The old man pulled the crafting glasses off his face and put his regular glasses back on. He blinked at Tobi a few times and shook his head. "No, boy, it's not just a scratch. You've got a piece of technology that you had customized yourself. So, the repairs will be different. I think this camera is different from the last one. Which, if I recall, you broke as well."

"For the last time, old man, I didn't break the camera, someone ran into me, making me drop it on the pavement," Tobi fumed trying not to lose his temper. "And, of course this one is different. It's the newest model."

Satou just stood there and watched the exchange happen, unsure what he should be doing. He felt a buzz from his pocket and pulled his phone out.

Mom [Hey where are you?]

Satou [hanging out with Tobi. I'll be home later]

Mom [okay text me when youre on your way home. Love you]

He put his phone away just as Fujiyama was walking to the back muttering something under his breath.

"Everything okay?"

"Ugh, I guess," Tobi grumbled. "Fujiyama says he'll check the back to see if he has a part to fit the camera."

"Is it important or something?"

"Not really," Tobi sighed, rubbing his eyes. "But it can be…difficult to acquire."

Satou looked around the bizarre shop. In addition to several photography cameras, a video camera, a VCR and music player devices, the venue also had other odd assortment of items. A suit samurai armor stood in the corner, old scrolls were sitting on a shelf, and what looked to be an urn, tied shut with many paper tags pasted to the outside, was being used as a paper weight. The store was littered with objects that probably belonged in a museum.

In Shopper's Plaza, Ageha's team continued their patrol of the area. Tsubame called everyone back to the food court to report anything out of the ordinary.

"So, anything to report, _devochki_?" She asked of them.

" _Nada_ ," Ageha answered.

" _Nope-a-rooney_ ," Yoshimitsu said energetically.

"No, but, well…" Meimei scratching her head.

"You saw something, yes?"

"I thought I had seen something," Matsuri answered in a soft voice. "But there was nothing. It could have been my imagination."

Tsubame pulled at her bottom lip as she thought. "It could've been someone casting some genjutsu, trying to hide. I'm going to rotate the patrol. Ageha, you and I will take the southern circle; Yoshimitsu, I want you to take the food court; Matsuri, you'll have the north wing; Meimei, will patrol the south wing."

"Roger!" The four girls said in unison, and split off to their respective zones.

Ageha and Tsubame dashed to the southern circle of the Shopper's Plaza. They split up at one side of the area and met back up at the opposite end.

"Anything?" Tsubame asked.

Ageha shook her head. "Do you think she was mistaken?"

Tsubame pulled at her lip, "I don't know. Matsuri is usually on point with these kinds of things. Something feels off, though."

"I agree," Ageha said. "With the incident from yesterday, something does feel quite right."

Meanwhile, in the food court, Yoshimitsu moved 'all sneaky-like', trying to spot anyone or anything suspicious. Several skulls with sinister glowing green eyes and razor-sharp teeth bounced beneath a picnic table. One of them scuttled out into the open and began snapping at people who passed. More skulls hopped out from beneath the table and spat green balls of fire around the place. They hissed and clacked their teeth noisily.

Yoshimitsu saw the escalating situation and called for the rest of her squad. "Guys, get over to the food court," she yelled into her wrist watch. "We've got a problem!"

The other four girls quickly arrived at the scene. "What happened?" Tsubame asked immediately.

"I don't know," Yoshimitsu said franticly. "One minute everything's fine, and the next…" she points to the skulls that were bouncing around the middle of the food court.

"Quick!" Tsubame shouted. "Put up a barrier.

All five girls surrounded the picnic table and made several hand signs. With that, a barrier was erected around the five people, rendering them undetectable from the rest of the shoppers. Even if someone were to approach the area, they would suddenly be stricken with the urge to move away from it.

The hissing and clacking noise from beneath the picnic table became louder. Tsubame motioned to Yoshimitsu, who inched towards the table. With one swift movement, she kicked the table over, revealing a large collection of living skulls. The skulls fell silent at the sudden change in lighting. Several seconds pass, and the girls nervously exchanged glances. A crumpled-up piece of paper blew past in the breeze, and one of the skulls let out a cry that sounded like a strangled scream then spat a fireball. Tsubame quickly responded by producing twin curved sabers and slicing through the green flame. The skulls all scurried forward at an unexpectedly fast pace. The four other girls produced their own weapons; Ageha had a rose vine wrap up her left arm and down her right leg; electricity crackled around Yoshimitsu and two blue pompoms appeared in her hands; Matsuri made a slashing motion with her left hand and a decorated tomahawk was produced; Meimei held her hands up in the air as if she was holding two dinner trays, and two pork-shaped buns appeared. All five girls charged at the throng of living skulls.

In the southern ring of the outlet mall, however, a girl with sandy blonde hair strutted through crowd.

"Like, OMG. She was all like, and I was like, shut up," the girl looked at her freshly manicured nails and sneered. "I think that salon biotch screwed up my manicu-HEY!" she cried out suddenly as someone ran into her. The girl turned to yell at the culprit, but they were already gone, and a paper spell tag was stuck to the girl's back. "Nah, just some rando bumped into me. I know, right. So rude. Uh, hey. Can I call you back? I'm feeling a bit dizzy." The girl's face was flush, and her eyes began to glaze over. "Oh man, what hit me?"

The girl collapsed onto the concrete floor as the spell tag glowed with a menacing red energy. After a second, the girl began to radiate with the same sinister energy.

In the food court, the five kunoichi handled the horde of living skulls. Yoshimitsu leapt up in the air and brought her heel down on a cluster, letting off a shower of stars and electricity on impact. Tsubame shot forward while swiping her sabers horizontally. Meimei flipped and jumped between several skulls before tossing a bun bomb at them. A group of skulls circled Ageha, but she merely smirked and spun around, causing a whirlwind of pink rose petals. Matsuri tossed her tomahawk into the and deftly caught it, which glowed a faint red color. She rushed toward a bunch of skulls and began smacking them with her weapon, causing it to glow brighter, until she finally swung it downward hitting the concrete, creating a small pillar of fire.

"Why-won't-these-things-just-stop?!" Yoshimitsu cried out between back hand springs. She crushed several living skulls beneath her feet, but more just seemed to keep coming.

"I know," Tsubame yelled, side stepping a fireball before dispatching a line of skulls. "I kill one, but ten more take its place. There's no end to this."

Ageha unraveled the rose vine, snatched a skull with it and slammed it into a group of them. "Well, they can't just be coming from nowhere. We need to find the source."

Matsuri smashed her tomahawk into a skull then swung it down, causing a pillar of water to shoot up this time. She stopped when she noticed that the water on the ground was moving toward a cluster of skulls. She followed it, destroying skulls in the process, until she came across a storm drain. Matsuri cleared the storm drain of the skulls that were surrounding it and quickly peered down it. Inside was some kind of pulsating mass that kept spitting out skulls.

"I found the source!" Matsuri cried out to her fellow ninjas.

Tsubame dashed over to the storm drain to investigate. "Whoa! Never seen anything like that before. Hey, Meimei!"

The Chinese girl threw a bomb then turned towards Tsubame.

"Think you can toss a bomb down here?!" the twin tail girl pointed at the storm drain.

Meimei nodded and weaved her way to her leader. "Will this do?" she held up a bun bomb the size of a normal pork bun.

"Yeah, that should be fine."

"Anytime now!" Yoshimitsu cried out, now resorting to punching the living skulls.

Meimei dropped the bomb down the storm drain, and the three girls quickly moved away from it. There was a minor explosion, and a gout of flame shot out of the hole. Tsubame rushed to the drain to make sure the weird mass was eliminated.

"All good," she said, giving a thumb's up.

Back in the southern ring, several people had gathered around the collapsed girl, whispering to each other. Her body started to convulse as it emitted the sinister red energy. One man began reaching out towards her in an effort to help.

"Hey, miss? You alright?"

The girl noticed the people standing around her and sat up. "WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT!" She screamed and the man recoiled in horror. The girl's face had been warped into something monstrous. Her mouth was now a gaping maw with several sharp teeth lining it, and six extra eyes had sprouted around her original two. She stood up and spun around. "WHAT ARE YOU ALL LOOKING AT!"

Right then, the girl stopped convulsing, and the red energy condensed around her like a cocoon. It shuddered and then a creature from one's nightmares burst forth. The girl had transformed into an enormous ten feet tall human-spider hybrid. The abdomen was black with glowing red streaks running across it. Eight long, spindly legs jut out from underneath, ending in razor sharp blades. The human portion of the spider monster had sickening white skin, her hands had transformed into black claws with glowing red tips. The monster let out a deafening shriek.

The five shinobi finished cleaning up the rest of the living skulls and dissolved the barrier. "Well, that takes care of that." Tsubame said clapping her hands together.

At that moment, they heard a blood curdling scream and then cries of terror from multiple people.

"What was that?" Yoshimitsu wondered aloud.

They all dashed to the southern half of the Shopper's Plaza to find the giant spider monster. It swiped at people and let out a horrifying shriek.

"Any suggestions?" Meimei said.

"Like what?" Tsubame answered. "We've never dealt with giant human-spider monsters before."


	5. Chapter 4

The enormous spider monster reared its head back and let out a deafening shriek. Black saliva seeped form its mouth and fell to the ground, making a hissing sound on contact. Its long, tapered hands twitched rapidly as it opened it gaping maw and let loose a stream of fire at the five girls standing before it. In a moment, the quintet leapt out of harm's way. The creature let out another shriek.

"Now would be a good time for a plan!" Meimei shouted to Tsubame.

The silvered haired ninja surveyed the area quickly. "The place is clear! Everyone… TRANSFORM!"

All five girls produced a scroll from their person and held them up into the air.

"SHINOBI TENSHIN!" They cried out in unison.

The scrolls glowed and wrapped the girls in a mystical light.

Green, yellow, and red feathers swirled around Tsubame and consolidated into her grey military uniform. She brandished her sabers and slashed downward with both.

Ageha stood in a bed of red roses as she clapped her hands above her head. The roses grew higher and wrapped around her before exploding away, with Ageha wearing a frilly red blouse and layered black skirt. She clapped her hands to the left side of her face and rhythmically stomped her feet.

Red, white, and blue stars rained down around Yoshimitsu. The stars collided with one another, sending a shower of sparkles onto the blonde girl. Yoshimitsu emerged clad in a blue top, white shorts, and blue tassel adorned boots. The girl dashed forward, performed a series of backhand springs, and landed with her arms up in a Y position catching her pompoms.

Meimei dusted off her hands as an enormous steamed bun enveloped itself around her. The bun exploded, and Meimei stood there wearing a short light purple Chinese dress, thigh high stockings, and mesh sleeves with grey gauntlets. She pulled one leg up, held her arms perpendicular to her shoulders and caught a couple of bun bombs.

A dozen totem poles shot up from the ground in a ring around Matsuri. The eyes from the poles began to glow as a mist blanketed the area. The mist was blown away and Matsuri had donned a feathered headdress, a beige tank top with a fringed bottom, a light red short skirt, and knee-high boots with fringe on the knees. A long, patterned sash flapped behind her. She bent over slightly and kicked up her knees, performing a ceremonial dance.

The five girls all stood before the enormous abomination, poised to attack. The spider shot out a jet of magenta flames and Matsuri rushed forward swinging her tomahawk to the ground. The fire collided with a wall of water, dissipating into steam. Tsubame took the opportunity to circle around the beast. She leapt into the air and swung her right arm at the creature's back. Her blade made contact, but merely glanced off the its tough hide. The spider swiveled its head toward the girl and swiped at Tsubame. The female Russian planted a foot onto the creature's abdomen and kicked away from it. A baseball sized object came flying through the air and struck the monster in the face, exploding on impact. The creature reeled, shrieking.

"Are you okay?!" Meimei called out preparing another bomb.

"I'm fine!" Tsubame answered landing behind the monster. "This thing's a lot tougher than expected.

"Any ideas, fearless leader?!" Ageha shouted.

"Why don't we just hit it until it's dead?" Yoshimitsu said.

Matsuri stepped up next to the blonde girl, "I'm not sure that will be enough."

"Aaawww. I wanna hit it!" she pouted, bouncing in place.

The spider regained its senses and focused its attention on Meimei. It let out a growl and lowered itself to the ground. In an instant, the beast dashed forward, claws outstretched. Meimei jumped up and flipped over the attacker, tossing a bomb down onto it as she did so. The bomb exploded and the spider crashed into the wall of the outlet mall. After pulling itself out of the rubble, the monster climbed onto façade. Black spittle oozed from its mouth and dripped onto the floor, melting away the concrete. It spat a torrent of acid at its adversaries.

"Whoa!"

"Look out!"

The girls all screamed jumping out of the path of the acid. The ground melted where the acid had landed with a sickening sound.

"Yeesh! I don't want that much exfoliation." Tsubame said with a sneer.

"Careful! It looks like it's about to do something!" Meimei cried out.

The spider shifted back and forth before rearing its entire body back. From its spinneret, a white cord shot out across the outlet and stuck to the opposite wall. It then scuttled across the wall, leaving a trail of thread behind it. Ageha dashed toward the monster and jumped off a nearby awning. She unraveled the rose vine off her body and whipped it around herself with a deft flick of the wrist. The Spanish ninja flew through the air, spinning her wrist. She pulled her left arm back and then slung it horizontally, whipping the rose vine at the spider monster. The vine wrapped around the abomination's arm, stopping it in its tracks. Ageha ground her heels into the pavement.

"COME ON!" She shouted to the creature.

The monster's red eyes glimmered for a second and then it yanked its caught arm back and Ageha cried out as she was sent flying towards the creature. She quickly flipped her body around so that her feet slammed into its chest. With one swift motion, Ageha wrapped the rose vine around the neck of the monster and produced a rose-decorated senbon needle. She thrusted the needle at the head, aiming for one of the glowing eyes, but the monster jerked its head and the needle plunged into the side of its face. The beast shrieked in pain, and began swiping frantically at its head. One of its claws managed to make contact with Ageha's back.

"AAAHH!" She screamed, still tethered to the creature.

Yoshimitsu came charging towards the two and leapt high in the air. "YAAAAH!" She cried out as she swung her right fist, pompom firmly clenched in it. The pompom crackled with electricity as it struck the monster's jaw. With the creature dazed, Ageha used the opening to unravel the rose vine and escape. Both girls landed on the pavement and jumped back a few meters.

" _Gracias,_ " she exclaimed, her breathing was heavy from the recent encounter.

"Don't you do anything stupid, okay?" Yoshimitsu said in a stern voice. "That's my job, remember?!"

"What?" Ageha chuckled.

"Are you two alright?" Tsubame cried out as she and the other three rushed to their side.

" _Si. Estamos bien._ Yoshi was able to knock _la ara_ _ňa_ back."

"YEAH! I was like, all, POW!" Yoshimitsu thrust her fist forward, pompom shaking vigorously.

"We saw," Matsuri said. "It was quite the spectacle."

At that moment, the spider regained its senses and let out a lower pitched shriek than normal. There was a low rumble and a horde of large spiders appeared. They were about the size of cats, with sleek black bodies, and a red glowing orb on their abdomens. Each spider let out a hiss.

"What the- Where did they all come from?!" Yoshimitsu cried out.

"Let's worry about that later!" Tsubame shouted, readying her dual sabers. "For now, let's focus on eliminating them!"

The four girls nodded, and they all charged at the group of spiders.

Across town in Blossom Heights, Satou and Tobi waited inside the old repair shop as the old Fujiyama continued searching the backroom for the part Tobi had requested. Satou yawned and checked the time on his phone then looked out the window. It was currently quarter to six and the street lights had started to turn on. The sky grew dark as the last of the sunlight sank into the horizon, leaving a pinkish orange glow.

Tobi's phone buzzed and he pulled it out to investigate. He swiped through his phone and raised an eyebrow. "Huh."

"Something up?" Satou asked.

"Nah, it's just club stuff. One of my guys got some pictures he wanted me to check out. Nothing much," Tobi said waving it off.

"What kind of pictures?" Satou scooted over to Tobi wanting to get a peek.

Tobi swiftly tucked his phone back into his pocket. "Nuh-uh. Members only. So, keep your prying eyes away, alright?" He said sidestepping away from Satou. "That is unless you're interested in joining the photography club?"

"Tch, you wish," Satou admonished. "Being in a room with a bunch of guys, looking at pictures? Presumably girls? Yeah, thanks, but no thanks."

"Hey, suit yourself," Tobi shrugged. "You would get to look at pictures of Ageha as much as you like. No charge." Tobi gave a sly grin.

Satou stood there silently, considering the option. "No. I don't think I will join," he said after a few moments.

Right then, Fujiyama returned from the back room of the shop carrying a small box. He shuffled behind the counter and set the box on top of it. "Alright, got th' part you wanted. If you want it, it'll be five thousand yen." Fujiyama took his glasses off and cleaned them with a bit of cloth he pulled from his jacket pocket.

Tobi picked up the box and slid the lid open. Inside was a Styrofoam mold with a small rectangular object set in the middle. Carefully, Tobi plucked the object from the mold to get a better look at it. It was a small microchip approximately one inch by one inch. Gold circuitry was overlaid black plastic. In the center of the microchip was a quartz crystal. Tobi held the chip to the desk lamp sitting on the counter. Light could be seen shining through the quartz. Satisfied with the product the old man had given him, Tobi set the microchip back in its Styrofoam mold and closed the box. After rifling through his back pack a bit, the teenaged boy pulled out a wad of cash. He counted out five thousand yen and dropped it onto the counter.

"Pleasure doing business with you," he said swiping the box up.

"Of course," the elderly man grumbled. "Come back anytime."

Satou and Tobi left the shop as the sun sank lower in the sky. The door to the building swung shut and Satou could've sworn he heard the lock being latched. Meanwhile, Tobi was fitting the microchip he bought into his camera. He snapped the back of the camera open and replaced the damaged piece.

"Okay, we're back in business!" Tobi cried out in celebration. He peered through his newly fixed camera, smiling like an idiot. There was a flash as he clicked the shutter and Satou flinched at the sudden bright light directed at him.

"AH! Dude, really?" Satou blinked trying to clear the spots from his eyes. "So, was the part that important?"

"Yep. No more scratch, and the picture is much clearer."

"Good to hear," he checked the time on his phone. "Shall we get going then?"

Satou quickly sent a text to his mother [on my way home. be back soon]

Mom: [okay be safe]

"God, your face, dude!" Tobi cried out looking at the picture he just took.

"Huh, let me see." Satou stepped around to get a look. The image on the camera screen showed Satou in the midst of looking up with his mouth half open and his eyes half closed. "Geez, I look high here. Or maybe I'm about to yawn."

They laughed at Satou's candid picture and started on their way home. A few children dashed past the two teenaged boys, laughing and shouting. The two boys who ran past Satou and Tobi earlier that evening bumped into Satou. The one holding the Shining Knight action figure fell back on his butt.

"Ow! Hey…" The boy winced in pain.

"Whoa. Watch out there, little dude." Satou held out his hand for the boy. "You could hurt someone like that."

The boy took Satou's hand and stood up. "Yeah, I know. Thanks." He bent over to pick his toy up off the ground. "Aw man. It's broken." The boy held up his action figure in one hand and the arm in the other.

Tobi looked at the two pieces and grinned. "Nah, it's fine. Give it here." He reached his hand out toward the boy. The kid obliged and handed it to Tobi who quickly popped the arm socket back onto the ball joint. He twisted it a couple of times to make sure it was on and gave it back. "There, good as new."

"Wow. Thanks mister." The boy took his action figure and raised it over his head in happiness. "Bye!"

The two young boys waved and ran off down the street.

"Mister? Do I look that old to you?" Tobi asked in a worried voice.

Satou just shrugged. "Maybe you've been hanging around Fujiyama san's place too much."

In Shopper's Plaza, the five kunoichi continued to fight off the seemingly endless horde of spider monsters. Their shinobi outfits were now torn and ripped in various places, and they had bruises and scratches along their bodies. Above them, the enormous spider beast kept on spinning its web throughout the southern ring of the outlet mall, the sky nearly blotted out with several sticky white threads.

Tsubame sliced through the last of the mini spiders and slumped down, driving the point of one of her blades into the cement to lean on for support. "Whew, just how many is that thing gonna summon here. It'll take us ages to kill it."

"That's if we can even scratch the damn thing," Meimei added. "In case you haven't noticed, none of our attacks seem to do anything to it." To prove a point, she produced a cantaloupe sized bomb and hurled it at the monster. It soared through the air and struck the creature in its side creating a large explosion. However, the spider woman seemed unfazed by the explosion and let out a shriek, summoning yet another horde of mini spiders, which quickly surrounded the five girls.

"OH, COME ON!" Yoshimitsu shouted, stomping her foot and shaking her fists. "We just beat up like, four waves of these things!"

"Five, Yoshimitsu," Matsuri corrected her blonde friend. "This will make the sixth wave."

"Uuuuugh." Yoshimitsu groaned loudly while scowling.

Tsubame stood up and pulled her saber out of the ground. She rotated her right arm around a bit then took on her fighting stance with one foot forward a bit and her arms up in front of her chest. "Alright, let's do this!"

"Wait!" Ageha cried out to the Russian ninja. "We'll handle the small fry. You see if you can find a weakness in the ring leader."

The silver haired ninja looked at Ageha for a second then nodded in agreement. She charged toward the cluster of mini spiders and slashed horizontally with her blades, cutting a swath through them. The spiders she struck vanished in a cloud of black and red smoke. Tsubame rushed to the giant spider and leapt in the air. She spun her body and sliced at the monstrosity with both of her sabers, hitting it on its right flank. There was barely a scratch where her blades made contact and the beast showed no signs of slowing down.

"Dammit!" Tsubame shouted.

She decided to try a different tactic. Tsubame rushed toward the monster and ran alongside it as it continued to spin its web. She sped past it and ran toward one of the kiosks. The female ninja jumped into the air and landed on the kiosk and leapt off towards a flagpole and hooked an arm around it. The flagpole bent and then snapped back into place, flinging Tsubame high in the air. She pulled her arms back as she flew towards the monster. Using the force of her momentum and gravity, Tsubame brought the point of her twin sabers down on its abdomen. The blades made contact with the beast but merely bounced off the side.

The spider turned and swiped at Tsubame with one of its claws, and the shinobi quickly leapt sideways to avoid the attack. Shrieking again, the spider shot another sticky cord across the outlet and scuttled on it to the other side. Tsubame felt something fall onto her shoulder and turned to see a thick, dark green liquid running down her right arm. She spun around and saw a trail of the same liquid on the ground leading to the spider. Closely watching the monstrosity, she noticed a gash in its underbelly about six inches long and dripping with green blood. Her eyes lit up at discovering that the spider can indeed be injured. The only problem now was finding a way to take advantage of this weakness.

With the spider currently distracted with the web it was spinning, Tsubame took this time to reconvene with her squad in order to devise a plan.

"Tsu chan? What's up?" Yoshimitsu cried out as she punched a spider into smoke. "The big spider is still running around the place!"

"Yes, it is, but I know how to stop it! However, it's going to take all of us to do it!"

"We're all ears, _chica!_ " Ageha shouted. She flicked her wrist and the rose vine whipped around, eliminating the last mini spider.

Tsubame started her explanation as the other four gathered around her. "Alright, the spider had a weak spot on the underside of its abdomen. Yoshimitsu, Meimei, I want you two to stop it from spinning the web. Ageha, I want you to use your vines to hold it in place. Matsuri, I want you to provide cover from the flames and acid for me as I deal the killing blow. Does everyone understand?" The four girls nodded, ready to execute the plan. "Then, let's do this!"

Meimei and Yoshimitsu charged at the spider from either side. The Chinese ninja clapped her hands together and materialized a soccer ball sized bun-bomb. She hurled the explosive at the monster, and it detonated on impact. The spider reeled from the explosion and turned its attention to Meimei. Yoshimitsu ran up to it on its left, and leapt high into the air. She drew her leg up then swung it down at the spider's head, leaving a trail of stars in its wake. The monster looked up as Yoshimitsu's heel collided with the its temple, sending out a shower of stars and electricity. The impact was enough to topple the spider off its web onto the pavement.

"Ageha, now!" Tsubame shouted.

"Already on it." The Spanish girl clapped her hands together. "Ninja-Art!" she cried out. Ageha then began to spin her left hand in a figure eight motion extending it toward the monster, with her write hand pointed at the ground " _Bosque de Rosas!_ " she shouted. Several vines sprouted from beneath the spider monster and started to entangle it. The creature tore at the vines, but they continued to wrap around it, restricting its movements. The more it struggled, the tighter they wound.

"Alright, now pull it up. I need to get at its underbelly," Tsubame ordered.

"Just a second." Ageha raised her hands above her head while continuing the figure eight motion. The vines then began to move the spider so that its soft underside was exposed. Blood from the wound Tsubame dealt to it earlier dribbled down its abdomen. "Better do this quick. I don't know how long I can keep it tied up like this."

"Ready, Matsuri?"

"Ready," the Native American nodded.

Both girls rushed the spider side by side. As Tsubame had predicted, it breathed out a stream of fire. In response, Matsuri jumped forth and aimed her staff at the approaching flames. The staff glowed blue and a torrent of water shot out, colliding with the fire.

"Go now!" Matsuri shouted.

Tsubame took her cue and charged straight for the spider's exposed underbelly. "Ninja-Art!" She held her arms out to her sides and angled her sabers back. " _Veter Tir!_ " Tsubame's blades glowed pale blue and she shot forward, striking the monster. She pierced its abdomen and passed through it, leaving a twin trail of wind. The spider let out a choked scream as black and red energy began streaming out of the hole in its body. It writhed violently and its body started to crumble away, but relatively little damage was done to the shopping mall due to Ageha keeping it tied up still. The monster shrieked one last time before its body completely disappeared into a cloud of smoke. Ageha released her ninjutsu and fell to one knee. She breathed heavily and wiped sweat that had accumulated on her brow. The four girls rushed to Ageha's side

"Hey, good work." Tsubame said holding out her hand.

Ageha took it and the silver haired ninja helped her up. "Yeah, you too."

All five girls smiled and nodded in agreement. Yoshimitsu put her arm around Meimei's neck and gave her a noogie. Meimei cried out in protest as she struggled to escape. Tsubame and Ageha both laughed, and Matsuri just closed her eyes and shook her head.

"Uugh…ooohh…" A female voice was heard as the smoke from the spider monster dispersed.

The five turned to the direction of the noise. A young woman was sprawled out on the pavement. She groaned as if she was in pain. The paper spell tag that was stuck to her back crumbled to dust and blew away in the wind. Tsubame and her squad moved toward the woman to investigate.

Tsubame kneeled down and flipped the person over. She appeared to be a normal girl in her late teens. She was slightly battered and covered in sticky white threads, but other than that, she was healthy. Tsubame shook her shoulder to wake her.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Meimei said suddenly. "We don't want her to see us."

"Relax. She's not going to recognize us because of the transformation." The Russian reassured her friend. "And she'll likely think we were just a dream afterwards anyway."

She shook the girl again and her eyes fluttered open. "Wha-? Who are you guys? Where am I?" she mumbled.

"You're in Shopper's Row." Tsubame answered. "Do you know what happened to you?"

The girl furrowed her brow and scratched her head as she thought. "Shopper's Row? Oh, right. I was walking across the outlet when I felt dizzy. I remember a lot of people standing around me, and then I passed out. How long have I been out?" she looked up at the night sky with a confused look.

"Not long. Miss, there's been an incident here at the mall. We're going to have to ask you to leave. Can you stand?" Tsubame spoke quickly.

"Uh, yeah I think so." The girl staggered to her feet and looked around the place noticing the partially destroyed building façades. "Man, what happened here?"

"Nothing of your concern. Now if you could please leave." Tsubame lightly pressed on her back toward the exit.

"Okay, I'm going. No need to push."

The girl stumbled to the exit as the five girls talked amongst each other.

"What do you think?" Tsubame asked.

"I don't know. One minute the spider disappears, and the next this girl just appears. If I didn't know any better, I'd say she was the spider." Meimei said.

"I agree," Matsuri added. "The circumstances are too great, she is likely the monster we had just defeated."

"Yeah, but how?!" Yoshimitsu yelled throwing her hands up in the air. "People don't just change into giant spider monsters."

"The how and why can wait for later," Ageha chimed in. "For now, we should report this back to Shimatami sensei."

"That sounds like a good idea," Tsubame said. "Alright, move out!"

And with that the five ninjas vanished from the scene.

The moon in its first quarter began to slowly climb in the sky as Tsubame's ninja squad made their way to their headquarters in the mountains. They deftly jumped through the trees, making no sound as they passed. Eventually they came to a tall mass-covered wall surrounding a mansion and landed in front of it. The mansion on the other side of the wall appeared to be a from the feudal era. It was rundown, with several windows broken and part of the roof had collapsed. The five girls approached the front gate which opened for them. Once they passed through, the mansion looked to be relatively new and in good condition. Judging from appearance alone, it was probably no more than three decades old. Standing behind the gate was a woman in her thirties. She had bright orange curly hair, light blue eyes, and a scar running down her left cheek. Her arms were crossed and her foot was tapping furiously.

"Uh-oh, I see that vein on her forehead," Yoshimitsu whispered.

"Inside, now!" the woman yelled.

"Yes, Shimatami sensei," the girls all replied in unison.

The gate slammed shut as the six-people made their way across the court yard. At the front entrance to the building, two guards, clad head to toe in dark blue uniforms, opened the double doors and bowed, and then shut them after the last person had entered. The inside was lit with electric light bulbs covered with traditional paper lanterns. Each lantern had the school's logo printed on them; the character for 'dance' overlaid a globe with the words 'Maisen University' on top and 'High School' on the bottom with two laurels bordering the entire thing. Shimatami sensei directed them through the building making left and right turns in the corridors. She stopped at a door with an accordion gate and slid it open. The five teenaged girls filed into the eight feet by eight feet elevator. The orange-haired woman step in last, closed the gate shut, and pulled the lever on the right side of the door. The elevator then moved upwards and after a few seconds came to a stop. All six of the people stepped out of the lift.

"Ah, sensei, there you are," a girl with medium platinum blonde hair rushed up to Shimatami. "This is exactly why I told you my squad should've been on-"

"Not now, Fleur," the orange-haired woman stopped the young French girl midsentence. "Whatever you have to say to me can wait until after I'm finished with these five."

"Um, uh, yeah." Fleur sputtered out as Shimatami lead the five girls to the door across the elevator.

"Maybe next time," said a voice. A girl with dark skin and long purple hair leaned against the wall to the left of the elevator door. "You'll get it someday."

The inside of the room was a large office. The floor was lined with mauve carpeting, and the walls had several shelves filled with books. There was a small desk against one wall, with a tanto sitting on a stand in the center. On the opposite wall was an upright display case with several differently colored scrolls hanging from hooks. The wall on the far end of the room, opposite the door, a large computer monitor was mounted. In front of the monitor was a desk that faced the wall. The desk had a standard key board built into it, as well as various other keypads and buttons. Shimatami walked straight to the desk and turned around.

"So," Shimatami started, "Does anyone want to tell me why we're here?" She looked over the five girls.

Yoshimitsu raised her hand and bounced up and down. "Ooh, ooh. Are we getting an ice cream party?"

The woman turned to the American girl and scowled.

"I take you brought to this particular room because of the incident that occurred at 'Shopper's Row'?" Tsubame answered quickly.

"That is correct." Shimatami pressed a button on the keyboard and the monitor lit up. It showed 'Shopper's Row' under attack from the spider monster earlier that evening, as well as images of several girls clad in very colorful outfits. "This is quite the incident."

Meimei furrowed her brow as she looked upon the images on the screen. "Wait, that's tonight. How are there pictures already?"

"You know how reliable our information broker can be, don't you?" Matsuri replied.

"That man." Meimei said, clenching her fist.

"Sensei, we can explain the situation." Tsubame started.

"By all means, do explain. I'm listening."

The five girls recounted the events in the outlet mall that lead up to the giant spider attack. They went over how they took out a bunch of skeleton skulls, how the spider began to make a web in the outlet and that it kept summoning smaller spiders. Everything up to the spider's defeat and the discovery of the girl when it disappeared.

"That's what we found really strange," Tsubame said. "I mean, giant spider not-withstanding. Was the girl actually the spider? And if so, how did she change into it?"

Shimatami scrolled through the images on the monitor and stopped on one of the girl just before she was engulfed in the black cocoon. "Our sources say yes, she was indeed the spider monster. But how or why she transformed is still under investigation. Honestly, it's lucky no one spotted you. That would have been disastrous. And why didn't you call this one in?"

"With all due respect, sensei, I thought this was our job?" Tsubame answered with a stern voice. "I thought we were supposed to take care of things like this?"

"You are supposed to handle invading ninjas! Not this! We don't even know what this is!" Shimatami pointed at the computer monitor. "Heeh, dismissed," she sighed. "Hopefully things will make more sense once Iwamatsu sensei has returned."

The five kunoichi exchanged looks and turned to leave the office. They made their way back to the front entrance in silence until they passed through the gate.

"What is this? What the hell is going on?" Meimei yelled.

"Even Shimatami sensei was at a loss for words," Matsuri added.

"That giant spider was unlike anything I've ever seen before," Ageha said. "Those skulls too."

Yoshimitsu bounced around anxiously. "Man, what's with all this weird stuff? Like, where is it all coming from?"

"I don't know," Tsubame added, "But I've got this feeling that whatever it is, it's only just begun."

Inside the dark room, the hooded figure sat in front of the monitors again. The large one in the middle displayed the large spider monster with the five girls fighting it.

"That went better than expected," one of the shadowy figures said first.

"Well it was just a test run, we weren't looking for outstanding results." A second one added on.

"At least we know they work the way we intended for them to." A third shadowy figure said.

"Of course, they work! I made them!" a fourth voice interjected. "Why would I send out something that didn't work?"

"Easy now, no need to get all tense." The fifth figure finally spoke out. "In any case, we've received results from the other locations. And judging from your report, everything is working according to plan."

"What is your next order, then?" The hooded figure asked of the five people.

"We are in the process of modifying the spell tags even further," the fifth voice answered. "Until then, you may do as you please."

"As you command."

And with that, the entire room went dark.

 **Author's Rant: Whew! That took me longer than it should have. The delay was mostly due to my own laziness and procrastination. So, I do apologize for such a long wait. Well, here we are with chapter four of this crazy fanfic that I started. As per suggestion from a friend of mine who I use to bounce ideas off of, I am trying to be more descriptive with my writing. But I'm trying not to be too verbose. Does that make sense? Anyway, this chapter was truly a bitch to complete, but I'm glad I finally finished it. Now I finally get to start writing the first date chapter. Hopefully this won't take me nearly three months to write. I mean, it shouldn't, but, well, we'll see. I am trying to incorporate more phrases from each of the girls' respective languages. Russian as you can imagine is not very easy, but I'm doing my best. If anyone can lend me some pointers for this, that'd be much appreciated.**

 **Until next time.**


	6. Chapter 5

It was eleven forty-nine Saturday morning, and Satou stood in front of Café Dolce waiting for his date to arrive. He had been there since eleven despite his cousin telling him to be there at least at thirty minutes early. His palms were sweating furiously and his stomach felt like it was in a knot. Satou took out his phone and went over the itinerary Hitomi had sent him.

"It's okay," he said to himself. "Everything is going to be okay."

He thought back to earlier in the morning and how he woke up at five thirty. How he barely got any sleep the night before because he was so nervous about today. How his mom kept hugging him tightly, and his dad resting a hand on his shoulder, giving him an approving smile. He then thought back to Wednesday when he asked Ageha out. It felt like a lifetime ago, yet somehow those three days passed by very quickly and here he was, standing outside a café, waiting for this girl.

"Don't freak out. Just stay calm." He said quietly. "Nothing is going to go wrong. Hi-chan planned out everything, so it should be fine."

"Talking to yourself, are you?" A female voice came from his left.

Satou turned and gasped. Standing there was Ageha Esperanza. She was wearing a frilly white dress with a spaghetti strap crisscrossing over her chest. A maroon cardigan that was tied beneath her breasts with a light pink ribbon in a bow. She wore black leather sandals with a rose cutout on the toes. A small pastel yellow purse was slung over her left shoulder.

"Um, no. Well, I was just…" Satou sputtered trying to form words with his mouth.

"I'm teasing you. Don't worry." Ageha brushed her hair behind her ear and smiled.

"So, you found this place alright?"

"Yeah. It wasn't too difficult to find."

The two teenagers stood there quietly for a few seconds. Satou moved around on the spot nervously.

"Y-you look amazing," he finally said.

"Thank you," Ageha responded. "You look pretty good yourself, too. Shall we go inside, then?" Ageha suggested gesturing to the door.

"Oh, uh, yeah. Let's do that." Satou turned to open the door to the café. "Let's actually go inside the café."

He held the door open for Ageha, and she thanked him as she entered the venue. Satou followed behind and they both stepped up to the host podium, waiting to be seated.

"Huh," Satou said looking at Ageha with a puzzled expression.

"What is it? Is there something on my face?" she reached up with her right hand to touch her face.

"Heh. No, it's not that," Satou chuckled. "I just noticed that we're eye level. Normally I can see just above your head."

"Oh, yeah. My sandals have a bit of a heel on them." Ageha turned and lifted her left foot to show off the sandal which did indeed have a two-inch heel. She waggled her foot a bit. "You like them?"

"Um, uh, yeah. They, uh, they look good on you," he stammered.

Ageha smiled warmly as a hostess wearing a white t-shirt with the café's logo emblazoned on the front and black pants stepped up to the podium. "Welcome to Café Dolce, how may I help you?"

Satou turned to the podium to address the hostess. "Um, yes, I have a reservation here under 'Tanaka'."

"Oh, you must be Hitomi's brother. Right this way. We have a table ready for you at the window."

The young woman leads Satou and Ageha through the café to a small two-person table pushed against the wall next to a window.

"Alright, here you go. A waitress will be with you soon."

Ageha and Satou thanked the hostess and sat down at the table.

"I didn't' know you had any siblings," Ageha said.

"Oh, uh, I… don't." Satou responded. "Hitomi's my cousin. I asked her what would be a good place to take you, and she recommended here. She also helped me out a little."

"That was nice of her. Are you close?"

"I guess you could say that," Satou said absently scratching his face. "She's four years older than me, but we practically grew up together. She was like a big sister to me."

"That sounds very nice," Ageha said warmly. "I don't have any siblings either. Most of my family is overseas, and my father doesn't have many relatives who are alive anymore. But we go and visit them every few years. Try to stay in touch."

"I kinda wish I knew more about my family. Other than Hitomi and a few aunts and uncles, my parents don't really talk about their own families that much."

Right at that moment, the waitress stepped up to the table. She was a woman in her early twenties. She had medium length red-brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, with a few locks of hair framing the left side of her face. Her eyes were forest green and her ears stuck out a bit. "Thank you for eating at Café Dolce. My name is Akane, I will be your waitress today." She set down a menu, a glass of ice water, and a damp towel in front of both Satou and Ageha. "Can I start you two off with something to drink?"

Ageha picked up the menu and looked over the beverage section at the back. "Uh, I will have the… mocha latte."

"One mocha latte," the waitress repeated as she wrote it down on her notepad. "And for you, sir?" she turned to Satou."

"I'll just have a coffee, black," he replied without even looking at the menu.

"And one black coffee. Okay, I'll be back shortly with your drinks," Akane said cheerfully before spinning around to go to the back room.

"Black coffee. How mature," Ageha said in a rather coy voice.

"Not really," Satou replied. "A few years ago, I started drinking coffee to be more like my father. You know, busy office worker, morning coffee. I didn't even really like the taste, so I put a lot of sugar in it," he chuckled. "It was more like coffee flavored sugar water."

"Oh no, that's terrible," Ageha laughed.

"Yes, it was. But my mom told me I shouldn't put so much sugar in my coffee. That big boys don't need sugar at all. So, over time, I weened myself off it and just drink it black now."

The two teenagers stared at each other for a few moments, fidgeting in their seats. "Shall we have a look at the menu?" Satou suggested picking up the menu

"That sounds like a good idea." Ageha agreed.

"So, what do you think looks good, Esperanza-san?" he said, looking over the items.

"Oh, you don't have to be so formal," Ageha looked up from the pamphlet. "You can call me by my name, Satou-kun."

Satou looked away from Ageha and blushed slightly. "I don't think I can do that."

Ageha reached across the table and squeezed his hand. "It's okay, no rush. Baby steps"

The dark-haired boy inhaled and resisted the urge to scream. He turned back to Ageha and forced a smile.

Outside the café, four girls sat at a table across the street and watched the scene unfold. They each wore sunglasses and hats of varying colors and designs.

"What are they talking about?" The blonde girl wearing a pink and white ballcap with the word 'LUCK' printed on it and heart-shaped shades inquired. "I wanna know what they're saying."

"Quiet down, will you?" The silver-haired girl squawked. She had a yellow fedora on and blue lens sunglasses. "You got the bug ready yet?"

The third girl had a menu from the restaurant standing on the table. On the table in front of her was a small wooden box with several blank spell tags inside. " _N_ _á_ _ix_ _ī_ _n y_ _ī_ _di_ _ӑ_ _n_ , alright? Shikigami's take a bit of work" The girl adjusted her green sun hat and scribbled the characters for 'bug' and 'listen' onto one of the strips of paper. She then held up her hand extending her first and second fingers and a cloud of smoke billowed out from the table. The smoke cleared and the spell tag had transformed into a small black beetle that was just under an inch in length. "Okay, now go."

The beetle scuttled back and forth on the table for a few seconds before unfolding its wings and flying over to Café Dolce. It squeezed beneath the door and made its way to where Ageha and Satou sat. There was a lamp hanging above the table where they sat and the shikigami settled on the shade.

The four girls pulled their ear buds out of their pockets and stuffed them into their ears.

"Should we be doing this?" The fourth girl spoke up. A tan fishing hat shaded her dark face. "It seems wrong, somehow."

The fedora girl elbowed her. "Of course. We are her friends, right? We're just looking out for her."

"Okay then." The fishing hat girl fell silent again.

"Wait, hold on," the sun hat girl exclaimed. "Okay here we go. We have audio."

{"Oh, hey. It's 'Milky Pop'."} The four girls heard Satou exclaim from within the café.

"Milky Pop? Where?!" The fedora girl cried out frantically looking around the area.

Satou pointed to the television that was mounted on the wall across the café. Ageha turned to look and smirked at the tv. Sure enough, the news on the television was covering a story about the idol group known as 'Milky Pop'. A five-girl team that was quickly gaining notoriety throughout the nation.

"Feh."

"What? You don't like them?" Satou asked turning back to her.

Ageha shrugged, "They're not really my thing."

"Really? Not into the whole glamorous life style of an idol?"

"Well, don't get me wrong, I do think their outfits look super cute. But I don't think their lives are all that 'glamorous'." Ageha shook her head in obvious disdain. "I just think they're so fake."

"Wow, tell me how you really feel."

It was then that their waitress, Akane, returned to the table with a tray on her arm. "Alright, sorry for the wait. That's one black coffee," she set down a mug of steaming hot coffee in front of Satou.

"Thank you."

"And one mocha latte." She set down a cup and saucer topped with foam in front of Ageha.

" _Gracias."_

"Now, are you two ready to order, or do you need a few more minutes to decide?"

"W-we just need a little more time," Satou answered.

"Alrighty. I'll be back in a bit."

Satou picked up his mug and blew on the steaming beverage. He brought the mug to his lips and took a sip. "Mmm, that's good coffee."

"That's good to hear," Ageha said. She looked down at her latte and noticed a rose had been drawn into the foam. "Oh, that's cute." She showed it to Satou.

"Huh." He took another sip from his coffee. "So, did you hear about what happened at Shopper's Plaza last night?"

"No, what happened?" She asked innocently.

"Apparently there was an animatronic that went haywire and rampaged throughout the outlets," Satou explained as he took another sip of his coffee. "It was on the news this morning."

"Oh, really? Was anyone hurt?"

"Thankfully no, everyone there was able to evacuate the place. But there was some damage done to a few of the shops."

"Well, that's a relief. At least nobody was hurt."

'Was that the lie they made up?' Ageha thought as she sipped her latte.

"Was that what they fabricated for the media?" The sunhat girl asked the other three girls.

"It would seem, that is the case," the fishing hat girl responded softly.

"Wait, who comes up with these things?" Ballcap girl asked.

The fedora girl turned in her seat. "There's a PR guy, or something, who takes care of these sort of situations."

As they spoke, a girl with light blue hair tied up in a ponytail entered the café.

"So, are you two ready to order?" Akane asked Satou and Ageha in a cheerful voice.

"Uh, yes. I think we are," Satou looked down at his menu then turned back to the waitress. "I'll have the tuna melt, with swiss cheese, please."

"Okay. And what type of bread would you like that on?"

"Um, rye? I guess?'

Akane scribbled his order on her notepad. "And for you?" She turned to Ageha.

"I would like the chicken pomodori panini, _por favor._ " The Spanish girl said smoothly.

The red-haired woman finished jotting down the order and left the two.

"Poru fah-foru? Gura-siiasu? What does that mean?" Satou asked with a quizzical look on his face.

"Haha! It means 'please' and 'thank you' in Spanish." Ageha chuckled.

"Oh. I feel like I should have known that." He sighed, disappointed in himself.

"That's alright. It's not like I'm quizzing you."

Ageha's eyes widened for a second. It happened so fast that it was barely noticeable. "I'm going to freshen up really quick." She grabbed her purse and stood up. "I'll be right back."

"Uh, okay. I'll be here." He watched as his date strode over to the bathroom on the far side of the café. "GAH! What are you doing here?" He turned back to the table to find Hitomi sitting across from him.

"Just checkin' up on ya, lil' bro," she said, twirling her hair. Hitomi was wearing a white zip-up hoodie over a black crop top, pink sweat pants, and light blue basketball shoes. She snapped gum in her mouth.

"Where were you? How long have you been here?" Satou asked looking around the café.

"Been here the whole time. We're three tables away from you guys."

"We?"

Hitomi pointed to a table roughly fifteen feet away. Satou turned his head and spotted Tobi sitting there. He wore a green jacket over a grey shirt and plain jeans. The bespectacled boy waved to his friend energetically. Sighing in exasperation, Satou returned his attention to his cousin.

"So? What's going on? Why are you two here?"

"Like I said, just checkin' up on ya." Hitomi answered as she pulled on her gum, stretching it out before letting it snap back to her mouth.

"No, I mean, I thought I was going on a date. Not being chaperoned by you guys."

"What?"

Tobi suddenly slid into a chair next to Hitomi that had not previously been there. "Hey, what's up guy?"

"You tell me."

"What the- Why is Saruyama there?" The fedora girl called out.

"Who's that girl next to him?" Sunhat girl added.

The four girls exchanged confused looks as they thought it over.

"Wait, is that the girl Satou was with a few days ago?" The pink ballcap girl asked.

"You're right," the fishing hat girl answered. "That is the girl I saw with Satou at the mall."

"So, who is he?" The blonde girl said.

The silver-haired girl looked at Hitomi carefully, furrowing her brow. "Hey, you guys don't think she could be-?"

Ageha entered the women's restroom and quietly closed the door behind her. She bent over to check under the stall doors. Reassured that the room was empty, the Spanish girl strode over to the sinks, heels clicking softly on the linoleum. Ageha stood in front of the mirror and opened her purse. She pulled out a tube of lipstick and touched up her makeup. The doorknob to the restroom began to turn, and the young woman quickly reached into her purse and clasped her hand around the kunai she brought along. The door swung open and a woman in her twenties burst inside. She shuffled over to the stalls falling to her knees and vomited into the toilet. Ageha had her phone in her hand, pretending to look at it while she watched the woman lose her lunch in the mirror. After a minute, the woman stood, shuffled over to the sink, cleaned herself up and left without saying a word.

No sooner had the door to the restroom clicked shut did the door to one of the stalls fling open. The girl with the light blue hair leapt from out of the stall, kunai in hand ready to stab Ageha. Ageha responded by pulling out her own kunai to deflect the attack. Blades clashed and both girls jumped back preparing their next move. The blue-hair girl lunged forward first, swiping at Ageha's right flank. Ageha spun out of the way and swung her kunai down at the girl's arm. The blue-haired girl quickly twisted her body to avoid the attack and used the momentum to kick with her right foot. The Spanish girl caught her leg and hurled the girl into one of the stall doors. The assailant stood and shook her head, trying to regain her senses. Ageha poised herself, ready for the next attack. At that moment, the door to the restroom opened again and a female employee entered. She carried a bucket and mop in her hands. The two girls had quickly stashed their weapons and were standing in front of the sinks fixing their makeup.

"Lovely weather we're having today," the blue-haired girl said to Ageha.

"I know, it's perfect," she responded naturally as ever. "Though I hear it's supposed to rain next week."

"Ugh! I don't like the rain. I hate getting wet."

The female employee looked at the two girls with a somewhat blank expression. "Um, are you ladies about finished in here?"

"Just about." Ageha answered.

"Okay." The woman pulled a small sign that read 'No Entry', and stuck to the outside of the door then left.

When the door swung shut again, Ageha and the blue-haired girl resumed the battle.

"Who sent you? What school are you from?" the girl spat.

"No one sent me. I'm here of my own accord," Ageha replied.

"Trying to get some extra credit I take it?"

"What? No! I'm here on a date."

"A likely story. As if I'm supposed to believe that loser out there is really on a date with someone like you."

"Hey! He's not a loser…I think."

"Then how do you also explain the four you have stationed across the street from this place?" The assailant continued her interrogation.

"The four stationed… _MALDITA SEA!_ " Ageha cursed in Spanish.

Within the shinobi schooling community, the students are encouraged to engage in reconnaissance and infiltration missions into other school's territory. This is for the sake of increasing the students' experience with real world situations beyond the normal prescheduled lessons, as well as winning favor with the school board. Shinobi schools are awarded points for a squads' ability to evade any opposing ninjas and gain ground in predesignated key areas. In addition, fights between squads are also encouraged. Friendly scrimmages are used to test and hone students' skill, provided they are contained within a barrier and don't put civilians at risk. At the end of every semester, the schools are graded on their overall performance. Schools that score high are given better funds and support from the school board. Rivalries between schools have naturally cropped up over the generations, ranging from friendly competitions to outright feuds. While nobody has been killed, more than a few have been critically injured as a result of bitter rivals not willing to put aside the fact that at the end of the day, they're all fighting for the same side.

Hearing there were four people recognized by another shinobi, Ageha stuffed her kunai into her purse and stormed out of the restroom.

"Wait! Where are you going?" the blue-haired girl cried out.

"I'm going to enjoy my date!" she called over her shoulder.

"But we're not done here!"

"Well, I am!"

The female employee poked her head into the bathroom again. "Are you done in here, miss?"

Without a second thought, the blue-haired ninja pushed past the young woman.

"And remember, dude" Tobi continued to inform his friend with dating 'advice'. "If the girl is going to the bathroom a lot, that probably means it's going badly."

Satou held his head in his hands and sighed. "Why do I still listen to you?"

"Because you know I'm right, and you know next to nothing when it comes to this kind of stuff?"

"When did you become a love guru?"

"No, no. he's right," Hitomi interjected. "She could be trying to avoid you and is using the restroom as an excuse. Speaking of which." She casually pointed to her left with her right hand.

Satou turned to see Ageha walking towards them. "Guys, I think you should-what the…?" He turned back to find the seat in front of him was empty. Even the chair Tobi materialized was gone. "How did they…"

Ageha sat down across from Satou again. "Whew, sorry that took so long. Lady stuff, you know?"

"Um, yeah. Sure."

With a swift motion, Ageha reached into her purse and clicked a device inside it.

"Did you just hear something?" Satou asked looking around the café.

"Probably the wind," she said coolly taking a sip from her latte.

"AAAAGH!"

The four girls across the café all screamed as a loud shrill sound squealed in the ear buds.

"Damn, did any of you know she'd have a jamming device with her?!" The fedora girl croaked, rubbing her ear.

"No." The sunhat girl responded. "How did she know we were here? That's what I don't get."

The ballcap girl adjusted her sunglasses. "I dunno. Maybe she's a super spy?" The three girls all gave her exasperated looks then turned back to the café. "What? It's possible," she said sheepishly taking a sip of her melon soda. "Anyway, shouldn't we send another bug in there?"

"That's not gonna be possible," the fedora girl answered. "Ageha has a jammer activated. So, no matter how many listening bugs we send in, they won't be able to pick up the conversation."

The fishing hat girl noticed the blue-haired girl leave the café. She glared at the four girls across the street then stormed away. "Hey, that girl with the blue hair." The fishing hat girl pointed her out to the other three.

"What? What about her?" The sunhat girl asked.

"I believe she's the reason we were discovered."

The four of them watched the girl walk about fifty feet down the street before darting down an alley.

"I want you two to follow her," the fedora girl said to the ballcap girl and the fishing hat girl. "Keep an eye on her, and see if she was the reason we were compromised. Don't engage in combat if you can help it." She shot the ballcap girl a dirty look. "We will continue to monitor our targets." She indicated to the sunhat girl and herself.

"Roger." The two girls responded in unison and sprinted over to the alley the blue-haired girl disappeared into.

The two remaining girls watched their comrades vanish then returned their attention to the café. They watched as the waitress brought the two people by the window their food.

"Do you think it was a good idea to send them after that girl?" The sunhat girl asked. "It could just be a wild goose chase. Or it could be part of their plan to break apart our team. You know, divide and conquer?"

"Even so, I want to be absolutely certain whether or not we're being watched. We may not be here for 'extracurricular activities', but not everyone will see it that way."

Ageha and Satou both looked at the plates of food just served to them. Steam rose off their sandwiches, wafting a pleasant fragrance to their noses. Satou's mouth watered and he lightly licked his lips. Ageha inhaled through her nose, then exhaled through her mouth. She fought the urge to simply pick up the sandwich and devour it with reckless abandon.

"Wow, talk about a loaded meal," she said, breaking the silence. "I don't think I'll be able to get my mouth around this thing."

"T-tell me about it. My arteries are clogging up just looking at my tuna melt." The teenaged boy grabbed his glass of water and took a sip. "What did you get again?"

"A chicken pomodori panini." Ageha said.

Her sandwich was indeed loaded. Between two slices of sourdough bread were grilled chicken breast, basil, tomatoes, three kinds of cheeses (gouda, provolone, and munster), chopped onions, mayonnaise, pesto, fried garlic, and the whole thing was topped with an olive on a toothpick. Satou, on the other hand, had a seemingly simple tuna melt sandwich. However, the thing had been fried in bacon grease, a tradition of the restaurant, making it a heart attack on rye.

"Well, shall we dig in?" she murmured.

"Yeah, let's."

The two teenagers grasped the sandwiches in their hands and brought them to their mouths. Satou opened his mouth and easily took a bite, tearing off a chunk to chew on. Ageha, on the other hand, had to stretch her mouth a bit to get a bite off the edge. Mayonnaise and pesto squelched out the back end of the sandwich and dripped onto the plate.

"Mmm. _Muy delicioso._ This is really good," Ageha breathed. She took another bite and chewed happily.

"Yeah, yours does look good," Satou said between bites.

The Spanish girl looked over to her date. "You wanna bite?" She offered to him.

"Uh, what?"

"A bite for a bite. My family will often do that when we eat out. We'll share a little bit of our order with each other," Ageha smiled at Satou and shook her sandwich enticingly at him.

"Oh, really? That's a new one on me." Satou looked down at his sandwich then to the one in Ageha's hands. "Uh s-sure, why not?"

Both kids exchanged quickly exchanged food, and Ageha wasted no time sampling a bite from Satou's tuna melt. Satou looked at the panini in his hands hesitantly.

{Is-is it really alright for me to take a bite?} He thought. {Well, Esperanza-san just took a bite, so here goes.}

Satou wrapped his mouth around the panini and bit off a piece. He chewed slowly, enjoying its savory taste. They finished the taste test and handed their food back to each other.

"So, how was it?" Ageha asked wiping her mouth on a napkin.

"Um, it was, it was really good," he stammered. "I enjoyed it very much, thank you."

"(haha) You're welcome. Yours was good, too. A _muy bien_ choice, indeed."

"Uh, yeah."

"You know..."

"Hm?"

"That was kinda like an…indirect kiss. Don't you think?"

Satou froze a bit at what Ageha just said. He began to blush and flustered over his words. "I, um, really do you? Was what we happened? Did it that?"

"Hahaha! Relax, I'm kidding," she laughed. "Who really buys into that kind of stuff anyway? It's silly."

"Haha, yeah silly…" he said sheepishly. Satou grabbed his water and took a large gulp from it. "What kind of an idiot would believe something like and indirect k-kiss?"

Their meal continued in relative silence after that. Satou eyes would dart around the room, and Ageha would sneak glances out the window, watching what the now two girls were doing across the street.

"Oh, this is painful to watch," Hitomi whispered.

"What happened? It **looked** like everything was going well. Now…this." Tobi whispered back, gesturing to his friend.

"Was it something he said? Was it something she said?"

"Does it really matter? We need to think of something fast, or else it will be awkward silence 'till the end."

"I think I have an idea." Hitomi began to wave her arm in an effort to get Satou's attention. "No, not you. I don't need anything right now." She shooed away the waiter who believed he was being flagged down.

Satou chewed his tuna melt silently and turned his attention away from Ageha. With not much to really say, the conversation naturally stagnated into what it was now. That's when something caught his eye. Satou saw his cousin waving her arms rather emphatically. Noticing Hitomi's strange behavior, he locked eyes with her.

'What?' he mouthed.

Hitomi stopped flailing her arms. She pointed to Ageha.

Satou shrugged and gave her a confused look.

"Oh, this boy," she whispered to herself.

Hitomi then brought her hands to her head and began running them through her hair. 'Hair,' she mouthed.

Satou tilted his head even more confused.

'Her hair, dumb dumb. HAIR!' she made exaggerated mouth movements.

"Her hair?" he said out loud.

Ageha snapped back to the date. "What? My hair?" she immediately grabbed clumps of her hair. "Is there something in my hair?" she began to get frantic.

"No, I was just…noticing how nice your hair looks. It must've taken a while to brush it."

"Oh, right. Yeah!" she breathed a sigh of relief. "Yeah it did. I was up pretty early getting ready for our date. My hair alone took nearly an hour to get the way I wanted it to."

"I was up early too. But for different reasons, I think."

"So, why did you suddenly bring up my hair?"

"Uh, well, I used to brush my cousin's hair a lot when we were younger. She made me do it." Satou winced at the memory of his childhood. "Over time, I got pretty good at. I, uh, I kinda like hair. I hope that doesn't sound too weird or anything?" He said quickly, waving his hands anxiously.

"No weirder than liking eyes, or hands, or anything, right?" Ageha took a sip from her latte. "I mean, everyone has their own likes and dislikes."

"Well, what do you like, then? If you don't mind my asking?"

"Hmmm," Ageha tilted her head as she thought. "Well, personally speaking, I like eyes. I think your eyes are nice."

Satou blushed at the compliment, and took a large bite from his sandwich. Ageha smiled warmly and bit off a piece of her panini.

 **Hey all. Sorry this chapter took a while to post. My procrastination kept getting in the way. Well, at least it didn't take three months this time. Haha. (cries internally) As you can see from this chapter, I've decided to expand upon the universe a bit here. In addition to the Shinobi Battle Royale, seen in 'Shinovi Versus', schools are expected to partake in friendly infiltration sub-missions in a capture the flag style scrimmage. I mean, why else would you be running into "enemy ninja" in the games? So, I will add on that I'm doing away with the whole concept of "good" and "evil" shinobi. It's ludicrous if you think about it. Considering the fact that all schools are affectively working toward the same goal.**

 **For those wondering, Meimei says 'Be patient', in mandarin. And Ageha says 'God dammit', or something to that affect, in Spanish.**

 **Don't worry about the disguise girl bit I've been doing this chapter. I do not intend to continue that kind of stuff in future chapters. It's a bit tiresome trying to remember which girl was wearing which color hat.**

 **Thank you so much for taking the time to read this fan fiction I've been doing. As always, please leave any comments you have about the story. What you liked. What you didn't. What could do with improving. I'm all ears, er, eyes.**

 **Until next time.**


	7. Chapter 6

Matsuri and Yoshimitsu followed the blue-haired girl through the alley. She made several turns down other side streets before exiting onto Showa Dori. The two Maisen Academy girls kept a safe distance while tailing the mysterious young woman as she entered a restaurant simply called Sandwich Shop. Matsuri and Yoshimitsu followed inside and surveyed the area.

"Dang it. We lost her!" the blonde one cried out.

"That was probably her plan." Matsuri looked to the back and saw a door labeled 'Employees Only'. "Yoshimitsu, you go around to the back outside. I am going to head through the back door."

"Gotcha."

Yoshimitsu bounded out the front entrance while Matsuri engaged her camouflage. She sprinted through the restaurant, jumping past patrons and workers until she made it to the 'Employees Only' door. The Native American girl pulled a kunai out and slowly pushed the door open. Without warning, the door burst open and one of the employees walked through. Matsuri leapt out of the way, narrowly avoiding the man. After taking a few breaths to calm her nerves, she pushed through the door to the backroom. It was merely a kitchen for the staff to prepare food, with a door ten feet to her right and another on the far side labeled 'EXIT'. Matsuri did a quick once over of the room before checking the first door, only to discover it was an office. The blue-haired girl was still nowhere to be found. She turned to the exit and readied her kunai. With one swift motion, Matsuri opened the door and jumped out.

"AAAH! WAIT! WAIT!" A girl's voice screamed as the Native American lunged forward.

Matsuri stopped herself from slamming into Yoshimitsu. "Oh, it's just you, Yoshimitsu." She relaxed her body and looked around the back alley. "Anything on the girl?"

The blonde youth shook her head. "Nope. How 'bout you, Matsu-chin?"

"Nothing."

"Should we keep looking?"

"Let's ask Tsubame first." Matsuri brought her hand to her face and spoke into her wrist watch. "Hey, Matsuri and Yoshimitsu, reporting in."

[Go ahead, Matsuri.] The watch crackled.

"We've lost the girl. She likely knew we were tailing her."

"Yeah, she just, like, POOF, gone! Like a ninja!" Yoshimitsu grabbed Matsuri's wrist and yelled into the watch.

[I'm not even gonna respond to that. Well, let's not push our luck too much. Return to the café. We don't need to stir up trouble when we're not looking for it.]

"Roger!" Both girls said in unison.

Satou and Ageha finished their lunch and left the café.

"So, where to now?" Ageha asked her date.

"Um, uh, let's…" Satou stammered looking around the street. "Let's take a look at the shops. Maybe there's something we can find we're looking for in one of them."

"That sounds like fun."

The two teenagers made their way down Chuo Dori. The closed off street buzzed with people, with some parts getting particularly crowded. Ageha kept sneaking glances over her shoulder and noticed a few familiar faces in the sea of people.

"Hey, c'mon," she touched his arm and pointed to a store. "Why don't we check out that place?"

The store Ageha gestured at had a neon sign that read 'Lomé Voodoo Market'. The front of it had clashing bright pink walls with lime green shutters on the windows. A placard above the entrance was engraved with the words 'Enter At Your Own Risk'.

"Uh, are you sure about this place?" Satou asked a bit nervously, looking at the voodoo doll with pins sticking out of its body. It hung from one of the windows and swayed in the breeze.

"Of course, it looks like fun." She grabbed his hand and pulled him into the shop. "Who knows? Maybe you'll find something you didn't even know you were looking for."

"Uh," Satou barely croaked out as his face went beet red.

The inside of the shop was tightly lined with shelves and display cases filled with items ranging from voodoo dolls, to herbs and oils, to gris gris talismans. There was a heavy scent of incense burning was immediately noticed. The paint on the wall was peeling, cobwebs littered nearly every corner visible, and mildew was growing on the counter tops.

"Can I help you with something?" A woman's voice called out.

"Holy sh-!" Satou cried out in surprise, jumping a little. Even Ageha was startled by the sudden entrance.

The woman who spoke had appeared from behind the front counter. She was tall and lean with charcoal colored skin. She had a prominent nose, small ears, and dreadlocks.

"Is there something you need help finding?" The woman asked.

"Uh, we're just browsing. Thank you anyway," Ageha answered smoothly.

"Alright. But be careful with what you touch," the store clerk warned. "Some of these items supposedly hold curses." She turned and walked to the back of the store.

Ageha made her way to one of the counters with shrunken heads on display. She picked up one by the hair to examine.

"Are you sure you wanna touch that?" Satou said voice wavering.

" _Qu_ _é_ _?_ You think it's going to bite you or something?" she shook the head teasing him.

"Well, no, but…"

"Maybe these tiny heads **are** cursed. Careful, it'll get ya!"

"AH!" Satou flinched as Ageha thrust the embalmed head in his face.

"Haha. I'm just messing with you," she chuckled as she tossed the shrunken head back on the counter. "Who even believes in things like curses anyway?"

"Dammit, they went inside that weird looking store," the fedora girl hollered.

"Yeah! This is gonna make it hard to follow 'em," the ballcap girl agreed

The other three girls gave the one a look then resumed talking.

"Well, what do you propose we do now?" The sunhat girl asked.

"I dunno? Wait outside until they leave?" The fedora girl shrugged. "We obviously can't go inside."

Ageha looked through a deck of tarot cards as Satou nervously picked up a talisman with an image of a sun surrounded by three snakes etched on the front. He put it down and picked up another one with several criss crossing trident designs.

"So, uh, see anything you like?" He asked.

His date looked up from the deck of cards and casually peered out the window. She saw the four girls talking amongst themselves quite animatedly and smiled. "I think I'm done here. Why don't we check out another store?" She set the cards back on the counter and grabbed Satou's hand. "Come on, let's go!" Ageha exclaimed dragging the boy outside. While the four pursuers were distracted, Ageha raced down the street into a throng of people.

"Whoa! Hey! Slow down!" Satou cried out as Ageha pulled him through the crowd.

Ageha pushed past people and eventually made it to a clear spot in the street. She stopped and let out a sigh. "Whew! We made it."

"Why did we run?" Satou gasped. He bent over trying to catch his breath.

"Um, I thought it'd be fun," she said with a shrug.

"O-okay?" he straightened up and wiped sweat from his brow. "Well, why don't we just walk? No need to rush, right?"

As Satou and Ageha continued down Chuo Dori, a young man on a bicycle came careening towards them. "Watch out!" Noticing the cyclist charging right at them, Satou grabbed Ageha by the shoulders and pulled her out of harm's way.

"Hey! Watch where you're walking!" The man shouted as he flew past the two.

"A-are you okay?" he asked Ageha.

"Yeah, I'm fine. No damage done."

"Okay, that's good."

"Um, Satou-kun?"

"Yeah?"

"You can let go of me now." Ageha pointed out to him.

It wasn't until she had said something did Satou realize he had been holding onto her during the entire exchange. He quickly released Ageha and stumbled back. "I'm sorry, Esperanza-san I didn't mean to hold you like that?"

"What are you apologizing for? If you hadn't pulled me aside, I could've been seriously injured." She looked over herself a bit. "But, because of your brave action, I am completely unharmed."

"That's, that's good to hear." Satou scratched his head nervously.

"Come on, I see a bookstore up ahead. Why don't we go check it out?" Ageha gestured to one of the stores in the strip mall.

"Uh, yeah, sure," he said. "Wait, what?"

Ageha lead the way to the bookstore and pushed the door open. After a quick glance over of the place, she entered the store followed by Satou. Weaving her way through customers and shelves, Ageha finally stopped in front of the graphic novel section. The Spanish girl looked up and down the shelves until she found what she was looking for.

"Oh good, they do have a copy," she grabbed the book off the shelf and smiled happily.

"I didn't know you were into manga, Esperanza-san," Satou said from behind her. He gave a quizzical look.

"Oh, well, I'm just into this one, really. I don't follow anime or manga all that much." She said a bit sheepishly. Ageha held the book up for Satou to see.

"Aaah, 'The Legend of the Sacred Sword'," he said with a nod. "Yeah, I'm following that one right now, too."

'The Legend of the Sacred Sword' was a popular manga that was serialized in the anthology 'Weekly Dragon Jump'. Set in a modern Japan, the story centers on the life of half human half youkai woman named Yukari as she defends her town from various threats and tries to live as a normal human. The series has garnered popularity amongst boys and girls of varying ages. It has been well received by the critics, and is considered the next big thing. With over eighty chapters published, it shows no signs of slowing down.

"With this, I will be caught up on the series," Ageha said with a smile.

"Wait, you're reading the actual books? Why don't you just read it online. That's what I do at least. I'm completely up to date with the current chapters."

"Eh, I guess I just like having a physical copy like this," Ageha shrugged.

"So, if you're reading the compiled books, that means you are only about ten chapters behind," Satou said scratching his chin. "Man, you better be ready for chapter seventy-three."

"Hey, hey, hey. No spoilers," Ageha exclaimed. "I only just got past the part where Yukari turns her boyfriend back into a human."

"Hmm. I'm still not sure how I fell about that story arc."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Takeshi allows himself to be possessed by a parasite youkai so that he could obtain power." Satou started.

"Right, he wanted to be able to fight beside Yukari," Ageha added on.

"And, then he loses control and turns into a dragon a few chapters later."

"Yeah, and then Yukari found a way to seal off the youkai possessing him and turn him back into a human. So, what's the problem?"

"Well, I just think the whole bit with him getting power was kinda, I don't know, unneeded? Also, dragons are just so overdone and overrated."

"No, no. it makes perfect sense. Takeshi kept watching Yukari fight all the time and he wanted to feel useful to her. But his being 'useful' to her wasn't dependent on whether or not he could knock out an oni. It was about him being there for her and supporting her. It was never about power with Yukari. She loved him for him," Ageha closed her eyes and held the book in her hand to her chest. "But, yeah, I do agree with you on the dragon bit, though."

"Oh, huh. I never thought about it that way. I guess I just thought it was silly that the issue was created and then solved so quickly," Satou shrugged.

Ageha shrugged too. "Well, now he's on his own training arc, and it is brutal."

"Oh, I know, right? Wearing those restraints, and carrying that boulder on his back."

"And then he learned that the restraints kept getting stronger every day. Hahaha!" Ageha laughed.

Satou threw back his head and laughed too. This drew the attention of other patrons in the bookstore. Satou and Ageha noticed others were looking at them and quickly ceased their laughter. The two teenagers turned away from each other pretending nothing happened. Satou saw Hitomi and Tobi watching them about twenty feet away, not really hiding the fact that they were spying on the two.

"So… was that all that you were looking for here?" Satou asked.

"Yeah, pretty much. You need anything from the bookstore?"

"Nope. I mostly do online reading."

"Alright, let's just get this paid for and check out what other stores there are."

The dark-haired boy followed the green-haired girl to the front counter. While waiting to be check out, he pulled out his phone and checked the itinerary.  
[Hibiya Park, no later than 3:00]  
He checked the time and saw it was already 2:23.

"Hey, wanna head over to Hibiya Park when we're done here?"

Ageha turned to him, "Is that what's on the planner?" she said, pointing to the phone still in his hand.

"Um, well, that's…"

"It's fine. Yes, I'd love to." She turned back around. "Okay, we're up."

They left the bookstore and started for the train station.

"They've been in that shop for a while, now," the sunhat girl stated.

"Well, what do ya want me to do 'bout it? Go in there and gripe to them?" the fedora girl answered. "Yeah, I can see that going over well. 'Hey, get outta that store. We can't watch you if you're in there'. Something like that?"

"You don't have to be an ass about it."

The four incognito girls kept watching the front of the voodoo store, waiting for Satou and Ageha to leave it.

"Hey, you don't think they left already, do ya?" the ballcap girl voiced.

"Don't be stupid. When could they have left? We've been here the whole time," fedora girl retorted. "The instant they step foot outside, we'd know."

"Then, who are they?" the fishing hat girl asked. She pointed to two people heading in their direction who looked suspiciously like Satou and Ageha.

"I don't believe it." Fedora girl said.

"Well, you better believe it, 'cause she somehow got the slip on us." Sunhat girl responded.

All four girls looked on in disbelief. For about twenty minutes they had stood outside the voodoo store waiting for two people who weren't going to leave.

"Like, how'd they do that? Are they ninjas or something?" the ballcap girl asked.

"Again, not gonna respond to that. We better act quick though. Scatter!"

All four girls separated from each other and disappeared into the crowd of people.

"Heh heh," Ageha chuckled to herself.

Satou heard her and asked, "What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing. I just saw something that reminded me of something else."

"Like what?"

"Don't worry about it. It'd take too long to explain."

"Oookay then."

{The date's going well, I think.} Satou thought. {I'm still a little nervous, but the push from Hi-chan really helped. Things should be fine once we get to Hibiya Park, I think.}

{I still can't believe those four. Spying on me during my date.} Ageha scanned the area for any sign of her friends. Currently they were nowhere to be found, but she knew they were nearby. {Hopefully things will go a little smoother at the park. Even if those guys are watching, it's better than dealing with anymore ninjas.}

The two teens arrived at the station and got on the next train. Satou and Ageha situated themselves on the car with the other passengers and the train departed. As it moved along the tracks, Ageha looked around the train. Nobody appeared suspicious, but that was the point. If an enemy ninja was that easy to spot, it'd defeat the purpose entirely. Someone brushed against her and she jumped close onto Satou. Being a little on edge, Ageha temporarily forgot herself.

"Um, are you okay?"

Ageha turned to see Satou's blushing face. Her own face beginning to feel hot, she quickly moved off him. "Oh, uh, yeah. I just, uh, saw a, uh, rat is all…"

"A rat? Really?" Satou raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"It may have been my imagination." She turned away from him and pulled out her phone.

"Uh, okay?"

The train continued with no problems, tough Ageha kept fidgeting in place. Every little movement from the other passengers made her jumpy, and everyone looked suspicious. She had her hand in her purse clutching the kunai. Satou watched her with nervous eyes. To him it seemed as if Ageha trying to find something, or was perhaps trying to hold in a pee. He wanted to say something to her, but didn't want to possibly embarrass her.

{ _Dios m_ _í_ _os,_ how long is this train ride?} Ageha was beginning to panic. {Never thought going on a date would feel so intense. It's like one of Iwamatsu sensei's lessons.}

No sooner had she thought that did the train begin to slow to a stop at the northern part of Hibiya Park. The car gave one final lurch as it came to a complete stop and Ageha stumbled onto Satou.

"Oh, sorry. I…tripped…" Her face flushed.

"It's-it's okay." He awkwardly fumbled to help her upright.

The doors to the train slid open and the passengers quickly filed off. Satou and Ageha entered the park and looked around in wonder.

"Wow, this place is really something." Satou said.

"Yeah."

"You know, I've never been here before. Even though I've been to Tokyo a bunch, and we're not too far from it. What about you?"

"No, this is my first time too. I usually have extracurricular activities to take care of, so I don't have much time to check out places like this."

The two teenagers stood there for a moment taking in the sight. The ponds with water fowl splashing in them. The beds of flowers in bloom. The grove of wisteria, and the fountain near the center. There were also several cherry trees that were laden with white blossoms. It was splendid image that captured the feeling of spring.

"So, uh, shall we walk around the park?" Satou asked.

"Yes, that sounds nice." Ageha answered.

They turned left and took a clockwise path around the park. Ageha pointed to a bed of gardenias, and stopped to admire them. Believing he should follow suit, Satou pointed to a random bed of flowers. Ageha informed him they were coriander. The two continued in silence for a bit.

{Say something cool. Say something cool. Say something cool…} Satou's mind raced with anxiety.

"Those flowers are really pretty," he said gesturing to a flower bush that was ahead of them in the path.

{DAMMIT!}

"Oh, yes, they are quite lovely," Ageha responded and moved toward them. She bent over to smell one of them. "They're damask roses. Many cultures view them as symbols of love through suffering."

"Is that so? That sounds kinda grim." Satou said furrowing his brow.

"It means, regardless of what hardships people experience, they still love each other."

"Oh. I think I get it."

Ageha smiled at him and they moved along the path again.

"So, I gotta ask: where does the name 'Ageha' come from? If you don't mind that is?" Satou started up after a few minutes of silence.

"No, it's fine. I don't mind telling you," Ageha breathed in then out. "so, while my mother was still pregnant with me, both of my parents were deciding on what name they should give me. My mother wanted to name me 'Rosalia', after her grandmother. But, my father wanted to name me 'Ageha', after his grandmother. My mother told me that after months of arguing, she finally caved and I was named 'Ageha', as you know. As something of a compromise, she calls me her 'Rosita'. Her 'little rose'."

"That's certainly an interesting story. Wish mine was at least half as such."

"No fun tale behind the name 'Satou'?

"Sadly, no. The story goes that my parents wanted me to have a normal, peaceful life, so they gave me a normal name. What's more normal than 'Satou'?" He threw his hands up as if to say, 'it could be worse'.

"Aw, that's sweet. Sure, it isn't as glamorous as mine, but your parents were thinking about you. Here's to a normal life."

"Heh, sometimes I wish my life was a bit abnormal. You know, get a bit of excitement?"

"Phbt! Excitement is not as cracked up as you think it is."

"Oh, come on. You don't want something crazy to just happen? Even once?"

"Once, maybe. But I think a nice quiet life would be great too," Ageha shrugged. "I dunno. I just think the idea of something crazy seems appealing, but when it actually happens, it's not what you thought it would be. Does that make sense?"

"Uh, I guess?" Satou gave her a confused look. "it sounds like you're speaking from experience."

"Ha! Right. Like anything crazy ever happens in Nakatomi. Come on." She jabbed him in the side with her elbow a bit.

"Heh, yeah."

Continuing on through Hibiya Park, Satou and Ageha began to notice other visitors there. They passed one couple who were holding hands. Several couples had laid out picnics on the grass under the trees. A few were standing in front of various flower beds, arms around each other. One couple was just making out right out in the open for all to see. The two teenagers blushed at the very public display of affection and quickly moved on. Satou glanced at Ageha from the corner of his eye then glanced down at her hand. A small part of him wanted to reach over and grab her hand, but a much larger part kept him from making a move. His palms were clammy, and his mouth began to feel dry. He very much wanted to scream and runaway, but he remained strong. He was going to stick it out until the end of the date.

At the manmade pond, the two of them stood to admire the scenery. The air was calm right now, making the water appear to be glass, reflecting the clear blue sky. A couple of ducks touched down in the water.

"Oh, look," Satou pointed to them. "It's a pair of falcated ducks. Haven't seen one recently."

"Really? Why's that?"

"Because they're a 'near threatened' animal. They aren't endangered, but their numbers are low enough that they could fall into that category."

"Oh, I see," Ageha nodded a bit absently. She continued her gaze across the pond enjoying the peaceful feeling. However, that feeling vanished as her gaze stopped on a group of four people on the opposite side of the pond.

Standing there were her so-called friends as they spied on her and Satou during their date. They were all wearing goofy looking hats trying not to attract attention to themselves. Ageha put a hand to her mouth trying to stifle her urge to scream. She snuck a glance at Satou to see if he had possibly noticed the four idiots who were not-so hiding in plain sight. Thankfully, Satou was too distracted by his own nervousness to even see them. Ageha grabbed his hand for the second time that day and hurried him away from the pond.

"Come on, let's go!"

"What? What is it?"

"I just, wanna see more of the park is all."

"We've got a lot of time, but, okay. I guess."

Ageha pulled him along one of the winding paths in the park, taking random left and right turns. She knew it wouldn't deter those four, but it would be a start. Finally, on the other side of the park did she stop. "Okay, here should be good. Man, your hand was sweaty."

"Good for what?" Satou asked panting. "You did that earlier, too. What is going on?"

The Spanish girl looked around the area then at Satou. She scrunched up face as she mulled things over. "If I tell you, will you promise not to freak out?"

"Freak out over what exactly?"

"Just promise me?"

"Okay, I promise."

"Alright," she breathed in, then out. "My friends have been spying on us throughout our date."

"Uh, what?"

"Yeah, the whole time. When I went into the bathroom at the café? I was calling them to tell them to stop creeping on us. Apparently, they didn't listen."

"B-but, why are they watching us? Are they watching us right now?" Satou nervously glanced around.

"No, they aren't. That's why I pulled you away just now. As for why? Well, they're just being over protective. We've known each other for since middle school. We're pretty close."

Satou stood there a bit stunned at what he just heard. Then he remembered Hitomi and Tobi had both done the same thing at Café Dolce, and snapped himself back to reality. "Wow, that's really nice. I mean, yeah, it's a bit creepy, but it's nice that your friends care so much about you."

"I guess. But sometimes, I just wanna be left alone. You know what I mean?" Ageha turned away from him and looked up at the sky.

The dark-haired boy wanted to say something, but decided to keep his mouth shut. Instead, he just stared at her, completely enraptured with her beauty. Then something caught his eye. There was a small black speck moving around on her shoulder. "Hey, hold still," he said, reaching out to her.

"What? What is it?"

"It's just a little…" Satou plucked the speck from her shoulder. "Bug." He held up his hand with his finger extended revealing a small black beetle with gold markings that was about the size of a ladybug.

"A bug?"

"Yeah, probably from one of the flower beds here. Though, it's not one I've ever seen before."

{That's because it isn't a bug!} Ageha shouted in her head. She instantly recognized it as a shikigami. {But when did that get on me? Wait. The cyclist!}

As Ageha slowly pieced together how the bug was placed on her, Satou began to set the 'beetle' in one of the nearby flower beds.

"Stop!" she shouted, noticing what he was doing.

"Uh, why?"

Without hesitation, Ageha snatched the bug from Satou's hand, dropped it to the pavement, and crushed it beneath her sandals.

"What? Why?!"

"Sorry about that. Didn't mean to startle you. But I just remembered that beetle was actually of a poisonous variety."

"Oh, god. What?" Satou looked at his hand.

"Yeah, it's the telltale gold on black shell. It, uh, has a, uh, stinger, that if it stings you, you become really sick."

"Wow, thanks for that, then," Satou said, clearly still tense about almost being stung.

"Well, crisis averted."

Satou and Ageha continued through the park towards the fountain. Several people were resting on the benches. There was a hum as the Tokyo Metro Line crossed overhead. Satou and Ageha sat at the fountain and watched the people walk by.

"Okay, my turn to ask you a question," Ageha started.

"Alright, what is it?"

"How are you friends with Saruyama-san? And how long have you known him?"

"That was two questions, but okay." Satou sighed then began talking. "I met Tobi back in kindergarten. It was the first day of kindergarten, I didn't know anyone and was too shy to talk to the other kids. He just came up to me and was like, 'Hey, wanna be friends?'. And we've been friends ever since."

"But, he's like, so, you know?" Ageha made a face as she said that.

"Yeah, I know. He's been like that for as long as I've known him. But he's a good guy. A little…odd, but he isn't evil or anything."

"Heh, sure."

"Oh, come on. He's my friend."

As they were talking, the blue-haired girl from the café sat down on Ageha's other side. She didn't say anything, or even look at the Spanish girl. After a minute, the girl left, leaving a scrap of paper behind. Ageha grabbed the paper and stuffed it into her purse. The two teens stood up from the bench and headed for the outdoor theater. On their way there, Ageha took out the note and read it:

[We are watching you]

Was all it said. Ageha looked around the park for any signs of shinobi. But as usual, none were to be found. Satou and Ageha heard cheers and shouts coming from the amphitheater as they drew near it.

"Ooh, 'The Justice Knights'. I remember watching that as a kid," Ageha spoke up excitedly

The outdoor theater had a small crowd gathered there, and the stage had several people wearing matching uniforms of varying colors. A performance of 'The Justice Knights' was being put on currently, and the actors were doing some rather amazing acrobatics.

"You watched 'The Justice Knights'?" Satou said in disbelief.

"Well, yeah. I mean, that was like, ten years ago, but I loved that show," she smiled. "The Yellow Knight was my favorite. She was so cool and tough."

"I liked the Purple Knight. He was the brains of the group, made being smart look cool."

More cheers were heard from the audience as the lead character, Shining Knight, clashed with the monster on stage.

"Sooo… you wanna watch a bit of the next show? This one is about done." Satou asked.

"Sure, that sounds like fun. Haven't watched The Justice Knights in ages."

Satou and Ageha found a couple of seats near the middle in the amphitheater, and waited for the next performance. Several children dragged their parents to the event, and the amphitheater filled up again. After twenty minutes, the next show of The Justice Knights began. The white clad Shining Knight entered from stage left, followed by his five comrades: Red, Blue, Yellow, Purple, and Black Knights. Red and Yellow were female, whereas Blue and Purple were male. Black was the only member of the Justice Knights whose gender was unknown due to the fact the they wore a helmet that covered their entire face. Opposite the Justice Knights, the villainess, Serpentia, entered from stage right.

The crowd cheered for the Justice Knights, and booed at Serpentia. Satou and Ageha joined in on the fun, but then Ageha stopped suddenly. She looked closer at the woman playing the villainess and frowned. It was the blue-haired girl form before. As she made a flourish to the audience while expositing her evil deeds, she very obviously looked at Ageha. The Spanish girl quickly pretended as if nothing was wrong, and continued to watch the show. Serpentia summoned forth the monster Satou and Ageha had seen at the climax of the previous show. It was a rubber suit in the shape of a humanoid scorpion creature. The suit was metallic blue with bright orange markings along its back.

The crowd cheered as Shining Knight fought the monster. They booed when it used a dirty trick to blind the hero. The other Justice Knights urged the audience to give Shining Knight their support, so the monster could be defeated. With the combined efforts of the Justice Knights and the audience, Shining Knight was able to vanquish the monster. The show ended, and the audience applauded. The actors took a quick bow before informing everyone that the next performance will be in thirty minutes.

"Well, that was fun," Satou said as he and Ageha left the amphitheater.

"Yeah, though I think it was different from the show I watched as a kid," she answered. "I remember the Yellow Knight being so cool. This one was kind of timid."

"Well, they were probably going with the current Justice Knights show. The cartoon is in like its tenth iteration. Every few seasons, they change characters and locations, so the show doesn't become too stale story wise."

"Oh, I did not know that. I guess I just watched the first series and that was it," Ageha shrugged. "That makes sense though. I know I'd get tire of watching the same thing happen season after season."

Satou nodded in agreement. They moved away from the amphitheater toward the western half of the park.

"So, have you watched every season of The Justice Knights?" Ageha asked him.

"Nah, just a first few series. Then I kinda grew out of it, I guess. Now I'm into things like 'The Legend of the Sacred Sword' and 'Durarara'. Right now, I'm actually watching the original 'Gundam', and I'm boring you, aren't I?" Satou looked over to Ageha and thought she had a glazed look in her eyes.

"Oh, no, no. You're fine. Honest," she said quickly. "I mean, I don't quite get what you are talking about, but it's fine."

"We can talk about something else if you want," Satou offered.

"No, I don't mind talking about anime. We don't have to change the sub-Hey!" Ageha stopped suddenly as a woman waked right into her. "Watch where you're going! _Pendejo!_ "

The woman stopped for a second and gave Ageha a sideways glance. She stood around five and a half feet tall, she had slightly messy brown hair that went down to the middle of her back, and had pale red eyes. She wore black skinny jeans, with a denim shirt open over a white tank top. After a moment, the woman walked away toward the direction of the amphitheater.

"You know that person?"

"No, I don't," Ageha watched the woman walk away, eyes narrowing. "Just some random jerk. Come on, let's keep walking." Ageha continued forward as Satou looked back at the rude woman. He shrugged and followed his date.

The woman with messy brown hair stood at the back of the amphitheater, watching people take their seats. She looked over the stage as the crew prepared the next performance. Several minutes pass, and the woman finally moves on from the amphitheater. She pulls a phone from her pocket and quickly punches in a number. After a few seconds of ringing, a person answered. "Yeah, it's me. No, no sightings, yet. But it could very well move this way. I'll let you know the instant I see it. I'm moving to the next location. Yes, I know not to make any contact, just to observe. You don't need to remind me." The woman ended the call and left Hibiya Park.

Satou and Ageha moved along the outer part of the western half of Hibiya Park. They talked about anime a little more, then the conversation moved to school. Ageha asked him what his favorite subject was, and he said math. He asked her the same and she answered history. Satou asked her if she was in any clubs. She told him she was in the dance club, and he told her he wasn't in any at all.

"Wait, not even the 'Anime Fan Club'? I would've thought that was right up your alley," Ageha said in disbelief.

"We have an anime fan club?" Satou responded with raised eyebrows. "I never knew that."

"How would you not know about it?"

"Well, I don't really seek out extracurricular activities. I pretty much just do my school work, and that's it…" he trailed off.

"Come on, you gotta do something. Expand your horizons."

"Eh," Satou shrugged.

"Oh, don't give me that."

Elsewhere in the park, Tsubame stopped to take a phone call. "What? Where? There was another? Uh-huh. Alright. Okay, Shimatami sensei. We'll keep our eyes peeled." She ended the call and slipped her phone back into her pocket.

"What was that about?" Meimei asked.

"Apparently, another monster like the one we fought yesterday appeared somewhere in Ginza," Tsubame explained. "Shimatami sensei wants us to assist the ninjas here should it show up again."

The other three groaned at the thought of helping another ninja school with its own problem.

"What does it look like?" Matsuri inquired.

"Some kind of dog-like creature with white fur. It's about the size of a horse, and is incredibly fast. That's what Shimatami sensei told me."

"Welp, let's get a move on, then!" Yoshimitsu yelled. "Doggy isn't gonna find itself!"

"We're not supposed to look for it," Meimei said. "Just help out if we happen to see it."

"Booo! That's boring" the blonde girl complained.

Grooowl

"Was that your stomach?" Ageha asked.

"Uh, yeah, I guess it was. Seem like I'm getting hungry."

Grooowl

"Was that **your** stomach?" Satou asked wide eyed.

"Heheh, _s_ _í_." Ageha laughed

Satou looked around and spotted a food vendor. "Hey, there's a crepe stand over there. Wanna get one?"

"Sure"

Satou purchased two crepes for them. Strawberry for Ageha, and blueberry for himself. He pulled out his phone. "Wow I can't believe it's already after five." He said taking a bite of his food.

"Well, we have been walking around the park for a while. And the sun is starting to get low," she pointed to the sky and bit off a piece of her crepe. "Mmm, this is pretty good."

Om nom nom "So, you wanna find some place to watch the sun set? I mean, that's if you want to."

Ageha took another bite of her crepe and nodded. "Mm-hm." She swallowed quickly. "Want to go to the fountain? I think that might be a good place."

"Yeah, that sounds good."

The sun continued to creep lower in the sky as the two teenagers walked back to the park fountain. Children raced around the fountain area as Satou and Ageha took a seat at the edge of the fountain. It was nearly six o'clock, and the sky had melted into a soft pink-orange hue. The tops of the trees were silhouetted in the fading light. Satou finished his crepe and balled up the wrapper. He took Ageha's trash and held it in his hands. The two of the sat there watching the spring sun sink into the horizon. The final bit of dusk was upon them, and the park lights flickered on.

"Well, that was that," Satou said. "Anything you'd like to check out? Any shops back in Chuo Dori, perhaps?"

"Mm, no. Not really. I got the volume I've been meaning to buy," she held up the bag with the manga inside. "So, we could just head home. Unless your day planner has other things in store for us?"

"No, that's pretty much it," Satou pulled out his phone. "Ready to go then?"

"Yeah."

Satou and Ageha left the park and boarded the closest train to Nakatomi. They rode it back in relative silence. Sitting side by side, Ageha yawned and closed her eyes. She rested her head on Satou's shoulder. Satou felt a chill run up his spine and a slight peep escaped his lips. They sat like this for the entire hour ride home. As the train neared Nakatomi, Satou gently shook Ageha awake.

"Huh, what?" her eyes fluttered open.

"We're almost there."

"Oh, okay." She rubbed sleep from her eyes and smacked her lips. "Sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep on you."

"No, it's okay. it was no trouble."

The train entered the Nakatomi Station, and Satou and Ageha exited the car along with several other passengers. The spring night air was cool, and there was a slight breeze.

"Do you, uh, want me to walk you home?" Satou asked.

Ageha smiled and nodded. They headed north to Uptown Nakatomi, then crossed into Breezy Hills. Neither said a word the whole time. Satou was still too nervous to start a conversation himself, and Ageha was still a bit edgy about being watched. Eventually, they arrived at Ageha's house. Satou and Ageha stood awkwardly at the front gate.

"Well, here we are. Your house," he said stiffly

"Yes, this is my house," she confirmed.

"Okay. Well…" Satou looked at the Spanish girl, anxiety welling up in him. His eyes moved toward her lips and he thought back to what Hitomi told him a few days ago.

"Hey, I had fun today. Thank you." She leaned forward and gave him a small kiss on the cheek. She opened the front gate and stepped through. The gate swung shut as Ageha turned back to him. "See ya Monday."

"Yeah…Monday…see ya…"

Ageha smiled at him and waved. Satou smiled back and waved. He then remembered where he was and turned to leave. The boy touched a hand to the cheek that was kissed. As soon as Satou was out of sight, Ageha turned to her front yard.

"Okay, you can come out, now."

Four girls emerged from hiding and approached her.

"So, how was it?" Yoshimitsu asked loudly.

"Yeah, how was your date with smarty pants?" Tsubame followed up.

"The date was fine. Satou is a nice guy. It would have been better if we hadn't been spied on," she admonished her friends. "Or if I hadn't been attacked at the café."

"Oh yeah, sorry about that. And the whole café ninja," Tsubame said looking sheepish.

The five girls entered Ageha's house and continued their conversation. Across the street, perched high up on a telephone pole, a robed figure observed the five teenagers. It remained focused on them for some time before turning its attention to the young man slowly walking through Breezy Hills. Then, in a blink, it was gone.

 **Author's Rant: Well, the date's finally done. Yay! Man, this was both fun and exhausting to write. But, what's this? A new chapter so soon? Has Christmas come early? This must be some kind of ninja arts at play. Fortunately, that is not the case. The reality of the situation is that the date chapter was going to be one singular chapter. But, at some point the chapter was getting too long. So, I decided to cut off at the last bit of chapter five and post it as a separate chapter. Then I worked to finish this chapter. All in all, that was a good choice. If I hadn't, this chapter would've been nearly twice as long. Not something I really want to do.**

 **Yoshimitsu continues to be incredibly fun to write. Her personality was mostly modeled after Star from the cartoon "Star Vs. the Forces of Evil". A bit hyperactive, prone to saying seemingly random things. I think it fits. Ageha wasn't really based off anything in particular. I just want to try to expand on the vague 'mature atmosphere'. She's much more complex than that. As for the other three? I'll be getting to them in due time. I really do wanna flesh out their personalities and characterizations.**

 **Thanks again for taking the time to read my story. Please leave any feedback you think may be helpful. What you liked. What you didn't like. What may need improvement. I am always open.**

 **Until next time. I hope you all have a great Christmas.**


	8. Chapter 7

The orange-haired woman sat in front of a large monitor examining several images in quick succession. Some of the giant spider monster that attacked the Shopper's Plaza a few days ago. Some of the alpha squad in the Ginza prefecture, specifically Chuo Dori and Hibiya Park. A couple were blurry images of a large pale animal that looked to be a canine of some kind. The woman sighed and removed her glasses. She massaged her temples for a few moments trying to make sense of it all.

"So, there's been no mention of the youma spotted?" a male's voice rang out from a speaker on the control panel.

"No, Iwamatsu-sensei, not since Saturday," Shimatami answered, placing her glasses back on her face. "That's honestly more unnerving than hearing that anything like that was seen during the day."

"Hmm, indeed," Iwamatsu said absently. "And there hasn't been any reports from any of the other factions?"

"Nothing, sir. Not even from the samurai."

"Yeah, we'd never hear the end of it if they had to step in. Forever lording it over us."

There was a pause between the two as Shimatami grabbed a half empty mug of coffee from the table and took a sip. She scrolled through the images and stopped on one of Satou and Ageha standing together at Hibiya Park. The orange-haired woman furrowed her brow.

"What should we do about the Takanashi boy?"

"Huh? Oh, don't worry about it. It should be fine. I don't think there will be any problems."

"And what of the Komodo Dragon?"

"You let me deal with that, alright?" There was a brief pause. "Sorry, I was taking a drink from my mimosa. I'll be back in a couple of weeks. My vacation to Barcelona has been quite enjoyable"

"That's good to hear, sensei. I'll be sure to keep in touch if there's any new development."

Shimatami pressed a button and the call ended with a 'beep'. She sighed, rubbed her eyes, then turned her attention back to the large monitor. The woman scrolled back a forth between the image of Satou and Ageha, and the image of the 'youma'. "Why are they showing up now?" she said to herself.

"No, I don't think trying to eat an antelope whole is a good idea. Why would that even cross your mind?" A smooth female voice rang out in the morning air.

"What are you talking about? I never said it was a good idea, just wanted to know if you ever tried it?" A sharp male voice answered.

"NO! No, no. You said eating it whole was a good idea. Don't try to back out of it, you sly dog." The female said.

"Hey, it's not my fault you have poor hearing. Maybe if you dried your ears out once in a while, you'd hear more clearly."

"MATO! Please stop him."

A gravelly male voice sighed loudly. "Sina, stop teasing Lena."

"Why? Little kitty can't take it? I told you she was **wet behind the ears**."

"Okay, that's it! That was your last water pun! PREPARE TO DIE!" the female cried out in anger.

"GOSPODI! Matsuri, will you please shut those three up?" Tsubame shouted to her friend. Her sudden outburst caused several students also on their way to school to give her peculiar looks.

"Lenapizha, Sinawava, Matonibaw. Please keep it down, okay?" The Native American looked up and calmly spoke. Floating just above Matsuri's head was perhaps an incredibly bizarre sight. Three disembodied animal heads bobbed up and down, unperturbed by gravity or the lack of a body. A blue lynx, a red coyote, and a green bear.

"Aww, c'mon, Tsu-chan. They're cute," Yoshimitsu cooed. "Isn't that right, Sina?" the blonde reached up and scratched the coyote's chin. A small flame burst from the top of the canine's head and it let out a content growl.

The three floating animal heads were guardian spirits in service of Matsuri. They originally served her grandfather but were entrusted to her before she left for Japan to live with her father's family. To the average person, they couldn't be seen or heard, but those with spiritual training, or anyone who is spiritually sensitive, could. They acted as guides, companions, confidants, and allies.

Lenapizha, the blue lynx, had a soothing voice, but she was sharp and always alert. Ready to spring into action should the need arise. Sinawava, the red coyote, was easy going, sarcastic, and foul-mouthed. He was constantly instigating quarrels with Lena. Matonibaw, the green bear, was the oldest of the three. He was often quiet and kept to himself, only really speaking if Matsuri needed advice, or if Lena and Sina were fighting. The three spirits had been by the Native American's side since she was nine.

"Matsuri!" The blue lynx cried out, swooping down to the Native American.

"What is the matter, Lena?"

"I felt an odd presence. A very wicked aura is close by."

All five girls stopped and surveyed the area. The wind blew past them, rustling the leaves on the trees. A bird fluttered down to a telephone pole and tweeted merrily. Matsuri spun around slowly with Lena still next to her. The lynx's eyes widened, and she let out a shriek. Everyone turned to the commotion to find Lena cowering behind Matsuri from Sina, who was baring his fangs and bulging out his eyes.

The coyote burst out in laughter as the lynx cried into Matsuri's shoulder. "Oh my, that was too good! You should have seen your face. It was all…" Sina contorted his face trying to match Lena's expression and continued laughing. "You really will jump at anything, won't you? OW!"

Mato slammed himself into Sina. "Don't be so foolish, coyote."

"It was just a joke," he said sheepishly. "Didn't mean anything by it."

"Sina, it may have been 'just a joke'," Matsuri addressed him, "but we can't risk any false alarms. Especially not with those creatures showing up. Alright?"

The floating coyote head looked at his master and sighed. "Alright, I'll be more considerate."

"Good."

"Well, with that taken care of, let's get our butts going. We don't wanna be late for school." Tsubame said to her squad. The five girls, plus three animal heads, continued toward Maisen Academy.

Fifty meters away, a person wearing a light grey gi and a silver snake mask, sat in a tree, observing the group of girls make their way toward the high school. The figure watched as they turned a corner and lingered for a moment.

'That was close,' the person said to themselves. 'Thought I had been made there for a second. That spirit has some excellent sensory abilities. Huh?'

Something caught their attention and turned to see a pale wolf-like creature lurking around the nearby park.

"There you are," the masked figure breathed, leaping out of the tree. "Now, let's get down to business."

"C'mon, Takanashi, spill it. What happened on your date with Esperanza-san?"

"Yeah, like, what does she smell like?"

"Will you cut it with your scent fetish."

"Did you touch her boobs? Were they soft?"

It wasn't long after Satou sat at his desk did several other male classmates approach him and start pelting him with questions. They were relentless, and the boy could only sit there helplessly.

"Okay! Back! Back!" Tobi took his seat next to Satou and shooed the group away from his friend. "He went on a date with a girl, not a supermodel."

The group of boys slowly dispersed and Satou let out a sigh.

"Thanks, man. It was getting a bit intense there."

"Dude, learn to stand up for yourself," Tobi swatted the boy's shoulder. "You can't keep relying on others to bail you out." The bespectacled boy pulled his camera out of his bag and started going through the pictures stored on it.

"Yeah, I know," Satou sighed. "But I just can't bring myself to say no."

Tobi rolled his eyes. "Well, whatever. Here, get a look at these." He handed his camera over to Satou. "I think they came out pretty great."

Satou took the camera and scrolled through the images. His eyes widened when he realized what he was looking at. "Wait a second-These are from my date!" He continued through the photos with increasing exasperation. "How did you…?"

"Like I said, I have my ways," Tobi smirked devilishly. "So, what do you think? You want a few copies to take home?"

"Not only did you show up at my date, you took pictures! I can't believe you. I mean, I can, but I can't." Satou shook his head, pressing the arrow button on the device. His expression changed to one of confusion with one of the pictures. "Hey, who's this blue-haired girl." He showed the image to Tobi.

"Hm? Oh, no one. Don't worry, just some random customer at the restaurant.

Satou gave his friend a look. "You know, sometimes I worry about you."

"Aheheh."

Meanwhile, across the room.

"So, how was your date, Esperanza-san?"

"Did he do stuff to you? Did you do stuff to him?"

"Is it true that he blackmailed you?"

Several girls crowded around Ageha questioning her mercilessly. They were all pushing each other, asking her question after question without waiting for an answer. The Spanish teenager merely smiled at the group and left them hanging. The girls groaned in disappointment and one by one returned to their desks.

Tsubame watched the last girl take her seat before turning to Ageha. "I don't know how you do it," she said pulling out her English book. "I'd start biting heads off if that were me."

Ageha just shrugged and pulled out her own text book.

In the second story girl's bathroom, two girls exited the facility with a third still in there.

"Hey, Tomoko, hurry up," one of them called to the girl. "Homeroom is gonna start soon."

The girl called Tomoko stood in front of the mirror fixing her makeup. She had short black hair and dark eyes. "Go ahead without me. I'll be there in a sec'."

"Kay then." The two girls left the third one behind and headed for their classroom.

Tomoko continued fussing with her makeup. Behind her, one of the toilet stall doors creaked open. The girl heard the hinges creak and turned around, but the bathroom was empty. She shrugged and turned back to the mirror only to see someone standing behind her in its reflection. Tomoko did a one eighty and started to scream, but her voice got caught in her throat. The person before her wore a yellow tiger print cloak and a green oni mask with long white hair trailing behind it. The masked figure reached into their robe and pulled out a spell tag.

Yoshimitsu sat at her desk pulling her books out of her backpack. " _Getting out my books, putting 'em on my desk, getting ready for school,_ " she sang to herself.

The door to the class slid open and Tomoko shuffled into the room. Her eyes had dark circles under them and her hair was disheveled. She took her seat next to one of her friends and stared forward with a blank expression.

"Yoshimitsu," Matsuri nudged her blonde friend.

"Wassup, Matsu-chin?"

"Does something seem…off about Hashimoto-san?" she gestured to Tomoko, who was now breathing heavily.

"Huh, now that you mention it, she does look a little sleep deprived." Yoshimitsu cocked her head to the side. "Maybe she was out with her friends last night?"

Matsuri continued focusing on the girl. "No, that doesn't seem to be it. But I can't put my finger on it."

Before she could look into it further, the door slid open again and the teacher strode in. He was a man in his mid-thirties with light blue hair and green eyes. He was tall with a lean build, and a narrow face. The teacher moved to the desk and set his bag down. "Alright, children, quiet down. We'll take attendance now. Midoriya-san?

"Present," Fleur responded

"Sunakawa-san?"

"Here." The Egyptian Rashida spoke.

"Patel-san?"

"Here."

"Ishikawa-san?"

"Present," Meimei answered.

"Kobayashi-san?"

"Here."

"Sasaki-san?"

"Here."

"Hashimoto-san?"

"…"

"Hashimoto-san?" The teacher looked up from the clipboard.

"Heeeeeeerrrree…" Tomoko mumbled.

"Havasupai-san?" He continued with the attendance.

"Present," Matsuri responded.

"Rakshasa-san?"

No response.

"Rakshasa-san?" The teacher repeated.

Again, no response.

"Is he out sick again?"

"I believe so, sensei," one of the students answered.

"Very well," he made a note on the paper.

"That's, like, the third time he's been out sick this month," Yoshimitsu whispered to Matsuri.

"I've heard that he has a weak constitution," the Native American whispered back.

"A what now?"

"His body isn't strong, Yoshi," Meimei answered. "He can't fight off illnesses."

"Really? Weird. I thought the Rakshasa's were strong people?"

Meimei shrugged, "Who knows. Genetics are bizarre like that. Generations of healthy babies, and one not-so healthy baby."

Homeroom ended, and first period passed without much problem. As the day continued, Tomoko's condition worsened. Her face was flushed, and her breathing became ragged. By the time third period was about to start, the girl's friends were urging her to go to the infirmary.

"Guys, I'm fine, really," she said in a slurred voice. "I just feel a bit tired is all."

"Tired my ass," one of the girls retorted. "You look as if you've been hit by a truck."

The door to the classroom slid open, and a man with a receding hairline and thin glasses stepped in. Tomoko's other friend quickly dashed to the teacher's desk.

"Suzuki sensei?"

"Hmm?" the man looked up from his papers.

"Tomoko isn't feeling well. Is it alright if we walk her to the infirmary?"

Suzuki sensei turned his head toward the ill girl then back to his desk. "Very well," he said in a flat voice. "But, be quick. Third period will be starting soon."

"Of course, sensei."

The two girls hoisted their friend out of her seat and slung an arm over each of their shoulders.

"Weeeeee… Where are we going?" Tomoko uttered in a sleepy voice.

"To the infirmary, we told you that already." One of the girls answered.

"You two are soooo nice. You're the best friends eveeeeerrrr."

"Yeah, yeah. Come on, let's go. Now step, and step."

Tomoko was affectively dragged out of the classroom by her friends.

"Byyyyyyeeee."

"Good bye!" Yoshimitsu replied, energetically waving.

"I hope she feels better," Meimei said quietly.

(sniff, sniff) "I dunno, something doesn't seem right," Sinawava huffed.

"What do you mean?" Matsuri inquired.

"Can't quite say, but I felt a sinister vibe coming off of her," the red coyote said.

"Oh, come off it," Lenapizha spat. "As if something could get past my detection."

"Say what you will, but I'm gonna check it out."

And with that, the floating coyote head zoomed out of the classroom.

"Sina, wait…" Matsuri started but stopped herself, remembering that class was about to start. "You two, keep an eye on him." She ordered the lynx and bear.

Lenapizha and Matonibaw nodded and chased after Sinawava.

The balding man watched as the door slid shut and turned his attention to the students. "Right then. With that distraction completed, please turn your text books to page seventy-four." Suzuki sensei patiently waited. "Now, Patel-san, would you please properly conjugate the first phrase?"

The disembodied coyote head flew through the air, following the scent of Tomoko.

"Sina! Hold on, will you?" Lenapizha cried out. The lynx and bear caught up to their companion. "Don't just rush off like that. At least get Matsuri's approval first."

"Bah! We need to check this out now. I feel like something bad is about to happen." Sinawava pushed ahead, trailing after the girl.

"This better not be another one of your practical jokes, Sina," Matonibaw said.

"No, I'm serious this time. Cross my heart."

"We don't have hearts, Sina," Lena said flatly.

"You know what I mean! Now, come on. We're burning time!"

And the three familiars quickened their pace.

"Reeeaally guys, I'm fiiine," Tomoko croaked to her friends as they scooted into the infirmary. "Juss a lil' tiiired is aaaalll…"

"Uh-huh, tell that to the nurse."

The school nurse, Machiko Okada, sat at her desk and watched as the trio entered the room. She was a woman in her late thirties with hip-length, dark brown hair, red glasses and a mole under her left eye. She wore a green sweater with a white robe on top, a short skirt and long, brown tights. The nurse gave the three girls a look before speaking. "Someone in need of medical attention?" she said in a mellifluous voice.

"Yeah, this one here," the girl on the left answered, indicating Tomoko. "She's been getting worse since first period."

Okada strode over to the girls and got a closer look at the one whose head was lolling around. She grabbed hold of Tomoko's chin and examined her. The woman nodded and let go of the girl. "She probably just caught a bug. Put her down on the bed," she pointed to a row of prepared beds. "I can give her some antibiotics, but she's going to need rest."

As the two girls helped their friend into one of the beds, Okada walked over to the cabinets and pulled out a small plastic bottle.

"Here," she handed one of the girls a couple medicine tablets and a cup of water. "Get her to take these, and then some rest. She should be fine by tomorrow."

As the two girls helped Tomoko take the medicine, the office phone rang suddenly. The nurse moved to the desk and answered the phone. "Yes, Okada-san speaking. Uh-huh, uh-huh. Okay, I'll be right there." She moved to the and pulled it open. "I have to go talk with the vice principal. You two return to class once you're finished giving Hashimoto-san the antibiotics, alright?"

"Yes, Okada-san," they said in unison.

Okada left the infirmary just as Tomoko's friends finished giving her the antibiotics.

"I think I'll take a nap now," she said with a yawn.

"Later, Tomo-chan," one of the girls said to her. "We'll check up on you at lunch."

"Yeah, so ya better stay outta trouble, ya here?"

"Okie dokie. Nighty night." And with that the girl fell asleep with her mouth hanging open.

The two girls just chuckled and returned to their classroom.

A few moments later, the three floating animal heads phased through the door into the infirmary.

"Sina, I'm serious," Lena said in a curt voice. "If this is another one of your pranks, I am gonna drown you."

"I am serious. No joke this time. Look, there she is. Let's check it out." The coyote head indicated towards Tomoko and they hovered down to her.

"Hmm, nothing seems out of the ordinary," Mato said in a gravelly tone.

"Keep searching," Sina insisted. "There is something odd here. I'm not sure what though."

The three familiars examined the a few more minutes before Matonibaw decided it was enough.

"Alright, Sina, the joke is over. You can stop now."

"Prepare yourself for an intense swirly, dog-breath," Lena fumed.

Sinawava floated there in disbelief. He was certain there was something 'wrong' with the girl, but their efforts to find out what were futile. "No, I'm not lying this time, I swear. This isn't a joke."

"Let's go!" Mato said in a rough tone.

Reluctantly, he obeyed and all three headed for the exit. Just as they were about to leave, a surge swept over them. They turned back to Tomoko to find green and black energy radiating off her.

"HA! I TOLD YA! IN YA FACES!" Sinawava shouted triumphantly before realizing what was happening. "Oh, that's not good."

"Quick, we have to warn Matsuri and the others!" Matonibaw instructed. And the three disembodied heads raced back to their master.

Matsuri heard the voices of her familiars, mostly Sina, echoing through the school halls. She looked up briefly as they entered the classroom, then looked back down at her text book. What is it? she scrawled on a sheet of paper.

Matonibaw approached his master. "Matsuri, Sina was right, something bad is happening right now."

What do you mean?

"The girl from earlier, the one who went to the infirmary, she started radiating some kind of weird energy," Lena jumped in.

What do you mean? Matsuri underlined the sentence.

"We're telling you that the girl is-" Sina started to answer but was cut off by a distant howl.

 **Author's Rant: Wow! I took much longer to finish this chapter. Honestly, this was because I couldn't quite figure out what to do with this chapter, set up and everything. But, I finally got to it, as you can see. In regard to the three familiars connected to Matsuri, this was inspired by a few of the New Wave cards of her with various disembodied animal heads. I wanted to extrapolate on that and came up with this. They assist her and the others to an extent and are meant to be a carry over from her Native American heritage. I had been wanting to introduce these three for a while now but couldn't think of a good way to bring them into the story. Well, they're in now.**

 **So, the youma are on the rise. What does this mean? How will this affect our heroes? And who are the samurai? We'll have to find out.**

 **As always, please leave a comment. What you liked, what you didn't like, what needs improvement.**

 **Until next time.**


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